BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 1654 (Bonilla) - CalWORKs: assignment of child support.
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: Judiciary 6-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1654 would, effective January 1, 2016, increase
the amount of monthly child support "passed-through" to CalWORKs
recipients from $50 per family to $100 for a family with one
child or $200 for a family with two or more children.
Fiscal Impact:
Major ongoing loss of revenue potentially in excess of $20
million (General Fund) annually, based on 44,000 CalWORKs
cases with one child and 20,000 cases with at least two
children that received child support in excess of $50 in 2013.
The increase in the "pass-through" amount is estimated to
result in over $40 million in additional payments to families,
resulting in a $20 million impact to both the General Fund and
Federal Fund.
One-time costs of about $278,000 ($95,000 General Fund) to the
Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) for necessary
automation changes.
Background: Existing law provides that as a condition of
eligibility for assistance each CalWORKs or foster care
applicant/recipient shall assign to the county all rights to
child/spousal support for the applicant/recipient or any other
family member required to be in the assistance unit.
that a recipient of CalWORKs aid is required to assign to the
county any rights to support from any other person that the
recipient may have, on his or her behalf, or on behalf of any
other family member for whom the recipient is receiving aid, not
exceeding the total amount of CalWORKs cash assistance provided
to the family. (Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) � 11477.)
Existing law requires the local child support agency to
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pass-through the first $50 of any amount of child support
collected on behalf of a child included in a CalWORKs assistance
unit to the recipient family and disregards that amount when
calculating income or resources for purposes of determining
eligibility and establishing the family's grant amount. (Family
Code � 17504, WIC � 11457.3.)
Existing law prohibits the county from retaining or counting as
income or resources any child support payments paid to a
CalWORKs recipient family on behalf of a child that is excluded
from the assistance unit, and therefore not aided, due to the
maximum family grant (MFG) rule. (WIC � 11450.04(e).)
Existing federal law provides an option for states to
pass-through to a custodial parent receiving TANF benefits up to
the first $100 in child support collected for one child and up
to $200 for two or more children and disregards those amounts
when calculating TANF eligibility and grant amounts. (42 U.S.C.
� 657.)
This bill would increase the current "pass-through" amount of
child support collections for CalWORKs recipients to mirror the
levels allowable under federal law.
Proposed Law: This bill would, effective January 1, 2016,
increase the amount of monthly child support collections
"passed-through" to CalWORKs recipients from $50 per family to
$100 for a family with one child or $200 for a family with two
or more children.
Prior Legislation: AB 176 (Jones) Chapter 488/2007 was similar
to this measure and would have increased the child support
pass-through amount to CalWORKs recipients, however, those
provisions were amended out of the bill prior to its enactment.
SB 855 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 29/2014,
among other provisions, resolved a conflict between federal and
state law, thereby exempting safety net and drug and fleeing
felon child-only CalWORKs cases from assigning their child
support rights to the state/county, cooperating with the DCSS,
and requiring these cases be referred to the DCSS for child
support enforcement/collection services. This bill also removed
the requirement that DCSS collect the support on behalf of the
state.
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Staff Comments: The additional child support disregard passed
through to CalWORKs families will result in additional moneys to
families but lost revenue to the General Fund through reduced
child support collections. Based on child support payments for
44,000 families with one child and 20,000 families with two or
more children, the increased pass-through could result in
additional child support payments to families of over $40
million per year, resulting in a $20 million loss in both
federal funds and General Fund revenues. It is unknown to what
the extent the increase in the pass-through amount could result
in an increase in the percentage of cases making child support
payments (DCSS data indicates a 73 percent payment rate) that
would result in additional revenues to the General Fund.
The DCSS has indicated one-time costs for automation changes of
about $278,000 ($95,000 General Fund).