BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2345
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 2345 (Gonzalez) - As Amended: April 23, 2014
SUBJECT : Public social services: eligibility: noncitizens
SUMMARY : Provides that noncitizens who meet eligibility
requirements and are lawfully present in the United States are
eligible for aid under the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and eligible for
nutrition assistance under the California Food Assistance
Program (CFAP).
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes under federal law the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program to provide aid and
welfare-to-work services to eligible families and, in
California, provides that TANF funds for welfare-to-work
services are administered through the CalWORKs program. (42
U.S.C. 601 et seq., WIC 11200 et seq.)
2)Establishes income, asset and real property limits used to
determine eligibility for the program, including net income
below the Maximum Aid Payment (MAP), based on family size and
county of residence, which is approximately 40% of the Federal
Poverty Level. (WIC 11450, 11150 et seq.)
3)Establishes, under federal law, the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), pursuant to the Food Stamp Act of
1964 and subsequent revisions, and establishes, in California
law, the CalFresh program to administer the provision of
federal SNAP benefits to low-income families and individuals
meeting specified criteria. (WIC 18900 et seq.)
4)Establishes, under federal law, eligibility requirements for
receipt of SNAP benefits, including income that is at or below
130% of the federal poverty level and is determined to be a
substantial limiting factor in permitting a recipient to
obtain a more nutritious diet, as specified. (7 CFR 273.9)
5)Authorizes the provision of aid to eligible legal immigrants
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who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence or are
otherwise permanently residing in the United States under
color of law, to the extent permitted by federal law. (WIC
11104)
6)Establishes the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to
provide state-funded nutrition assistance to legal permanent
residents for whom the period of time they have resided in the
United States is the sole reason for their ineligibility for
federal SNAP benefits. (WIC 18930 et seq.)
7)Requires a CFAP recipient who is also receiving CalWORKs
benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities, as
specified, and requires all other CFAP recipients to meet
federal SNAP work requirements, as specified. (WIC 18930.5)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : This bill seeks to remove barriers that prohibit
access to critical safety net services for eligible, lawfully
present, taxpaying immigrants.
CalWORKs : The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Federal funding
for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) block grant. CalWORKs cash aid and services are
provided to low-income families with children and needy
caretaker relatives of children in, or at risk of placement in,
the foster care system, with the goal of lifting children out of
deep poverty. According to recent data from the California
Department of Social Services, 554,292 families rely on
CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly 80% of
the children are under age twelve and 40% are under age five.
The average monthly cash grant for a family of three on CalWORKs
(one parent and two children) is $463. Average grants of $463
per month for a family of three means $15.43 per day, per
family, or $5.14 per family member, per day to meet basic needs,
including rent, clothing, utility bills, food, and anything else
a family needs to ensure children can be cared for at home and
safely remain with their families. This average grant amount
puts the annual household income at $5,556 per year. The
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maximum monthly grant for a family with no other income is $638,
resulting in an annual household income of $7,656. Federal
Poverty Guidelines show that 100% of poverty for a family of
three is much higher at $19,790 per year.
California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) : Income and other
eligibility requirements for CFAP are aligned with CalFresh
requirements. Nutrition benefits provided through the CalFresh
program are funded entirely by the federal government through
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sets specific
eligibility requirements for SNAP programs across the United
States, including a gross and net income test, work
requirements, and other documentation requirements. The maximum
allowable gross income is 130% of the Federal Poverty Level
(FPL), and households with elderly or disabled members are not
subject to gross income criteria but must have a net monthly
income at or below 100% of the FPL. Other households must meet
both gross and net monthly income tests. The California Food
Assistance Program provides a state-funded nutrition benefit to
eligible, needy households that are ineligible for CalFresh
benefits solely because they do not meet the five-year residency
requirement for federal SNAP eligibility.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was the final piece of federal
welfare reform legislation, restricted aid for immigrants
entering the US after August 22, 1996. In response, CFAP was
established in 1997 to provide state-funded nutrition benefits
to legally present immigrants who lost federal eligibility under
PRWORA, and counties continued to provide CalWORKs benefits to
otherwise eligible noncitizens who met specified immigration
criteria. State dollars are used to provide aid to families not
eligible for federal funding solely due to residency
requirements.
Need for this bill : According to the author and proponents of
this bill, statutory barriers are keeping California from
providing needed benefits and services to legal, lawfully
present noncitizen immigrants to whom benefits and services were
unfairly restricted through the passage of federal welfare
reform. This bill is intended to continue recent legislative
progress that has been made in serving and ensuring the
well-being of needy, eligible noncitizen immigrants who are
lawfully present in the United States but are ineligible for
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federally-funded benefits within their first five years in the
country. Under the CalWORKs program, the existing eligibility
standards for lawfully present immigrants include, but are not
limited to lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, and
survivors of domestic violence or trafficking who meet specific
Visa criteria. This bill seeks to expand eligibility for CFAP
and CalWORKs by also including legal noncitizens that are, for
example, lawfully present and under Temporary Protected Status
or qualify under Deferred Action, including Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals recipients.
Expressing the need for the bill, the author states:
"California has the highest poverty rate in the nation,<1> at
23.8%, once adjusted to include cost of living and other
factors. California is home to the largest immigrant population
in the country, comprising of 27% of our population. The Great
Recession has had long-lasting effects on workers' wages,
hunger, and food insecurity in California. According to a
report by the California Budget Project, California has the same
number of jobs as it did nine years ago. Furthermore, a smaller
share of Californians are working today than at any point since
the late 1970s and job losses were deeper during the Great
Recession compared to those of prior recessions. At the same
time, the Great Recession has led to workers wages' loss in
purchasing power leading to an increase in hunger and food
insecurity.<2> [This bill] removes existing exclusion and
barriers for California's lawfully present immigrant residents
to access critical services such as the California Food
Assistance Program (CFAP) and California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) in order to ensure that these
working families survive as they move toward self-sufficiency.
Not only will this change in law improve the livelihood of these
working families but will improve state and local economies
through sales tax revenue."
Writing in support of the measure, the California Immigrant
Policy Center states:
---------------------------
<1> Source: United States Census Bureau.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60247.pdf?eml=gd&utm_medium=
email&utm_source=govdelivery
<2> Source: In the Midst of the Great Recession, The State of
Working California 2009.
http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2009/090906_labor_day.pdf
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"? under current law, CA provides access to critical programs
for most lawfully present immigrants who had been excluded after
federal welfare reform by using state funds. However, some
categories of lawfully present immigrants who work and pay taxes
are still excluded. This includes categories that did not exist
in 1996, such as deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA)
and many longtime residents, who are in the process of adjusting
to legal permanent residency status. Extending these services
to all otherwise eligible, lawfully present immigrants is needed
to ensure that families facing severe economic challenges can
survive.
"Unfortunately, our state has the highest poverty rate in the
nation1, at 23.8%, once adjusted to include cost of living and
other factors. Low-income working families were harmed
disproportionally by the recent recession and have not been able
to recover fully. CalWORKs, a cash aid and job-related services
program for families in need, and CFAP, a nutritional assistance
program for individuals and families in need, provide low-income
Californians with crucial pathways to opportunity.
"[This bill] will ensure that all lawfully present California
residents are able enroll in CalWORKs and CFAP, if they meet the
other program requirements. The expansion of eligibility to
these public programs would benefit the following lawfully
present immigrants: those granted Temporary Protected Status
(TPS), Deferred Action, and other long-time residents who
contribute to these services, via taxes, but have no access to
them. [This bill] will simply bring eligibility in line with
California's long-standing intent so that additional categories
of lawfully present immigrants gain access to nutritional and
critical assistance programs, to which they are already
contributing through income taxes."
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 35 (Hern�ndez) Chapter 571, Statutes of 2013, among other
provisions, extended consumer protections for youth applying for
the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy and
codified the requirement that DACA approved individuals be
eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
SB 1569 (Kuehl) Chapter 672, Statutes of 2006, provided
temporary and immediate access to social services, including
CalWORKs and CFAP, for non-citizen survivors of human
trafficking and domestic violence and of other serious crimes.
AB 2345
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles
Asian Health Services
Asian Law Alliance
California Association of Food Banks
California Food Policy Advocates
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ)
California Pan-Ethics Health Net Work (CPEHN)
Children's Defense Fund-California (CDF-CA)
Children's Defense Fund-California
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Courage Campaign
Dolores Huerta Foundation
El Quinto Sol De America
FIRM, Inc.
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Greenfield Walking Group
Guam Communications Network
Having Our Say Coalition
Human Agenda
Human Impact Partners
Hunger Action Los Angeles
KIWA Workers for Justice
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC)
Los Angeles Community Action Network
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
New Economics for Women (NEW)
Pacific Islander Cancer Survivors Network
Project Inform
Sacramento Regional Coalition for the Homeless (SRCEH)
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network
St. Anthony Foundation
Street Level Health Project
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Worksafe
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6 Individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089