BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2382
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 21, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2382 (Bradford) - As Amended: May 6, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:5 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill eliminates the double penalty assessed against
CalWORKS recipients for their children's truancy, if those
children are less than 16 years old. Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes the school attendance requirement, solely for the
purpose of determining CalWORKs eligibility, for children in
the assistance unit under 16 years of age.
2)Deletes the requirement that any adults in an assistance unit
lose aid due to a child in the assistance unit under age 16
not meeting the school attendance requirement within CalWORKs
eligibility criteria.
3)Requires counties to inform CalWORKs applicants and recipients
of the school attendance requirement for children in the
assistance unit who are 16 years of age or older.
4)Excludes a child who is age 16 or older from being considered
in the family's grant calculation for any month in which the
county is informed by a school district or a county school
attendance review board that the child did not meet school
attendance requirements.
5)Requires that a child whose needs are not considered in the
family's grant computation due to not meeting school
attendance requirements remain eligible for services that may
lead to attendance in school.
6)Provides that a child shall be presumed to be attending school
unless he or she has been deemed a chronic truant pursuant to
AB 2382
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Section 48263.6 of the Education Code.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)On-going costs of approximately $4.5 million (TANF/GF) in
increased CalWORKs grant costs that would have otherwise been
lost to families due to truancy. This assumes approximately
13,000 families will receive an average of $366 over a three
month period as a result of removing the penalty.
2)Potential on-going administrative efficiencies to the extent
there are fewer state hearings that would have otherwise
challenged the reduced grants.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill is intended to eliminate what the author
refers to as a double penalty for CalWORKs parents with truant
children. The author argues that parents of truant children
already face penalties under the law and that it is unfair to
penalize CalWORKs parents twice, by reducing the CalWORKs
grant in addition to assessing other penalties. In order to
accomplish this, the bill removes the attendance requirement
as a condition to receiving CalWORKs benefits for parents with
children under 16, and cross-references the truancy penalties
created by recent legislation. In doing so, the author hopes
this bill will provide stability for poor school children and
their families.
2)Disproportionate impact of the double penalty : SB 1317 (Leno)
Chapter 647, Statutes of 2010, defined a chronic truant as a
pupil subject to compulsory full-time education who is absent
from school without a valid excuse for 10% or more days within
the school year. Additionally, the bill established that a
parent who fails to reasonably supervise and encourage a
pupil's required school attendance, after being offered
language-accessible services to address the pupil's truancy,
is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding
$2,000, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding
one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. While the
primary objective of this legislation was to reduce truancy
through penalizing parents, there was no consideration of how
the new penalty would affect parents and children in CalWORKs
AB 2382
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households.
Families receiving CalWORKs aid must meet state compulsory
education requirements and CalWORKs school attendance
requirements, both of which result in penalties for
noncompliance. Children under age 16 receiving CalWORKs
benefits are not required to participate in welfare-to-work
activities, however they are still required to attend school,
whereas education is the welfare-to-work activity emphasized
for children who are age 16 and older.
In addition to the fines, misdemeanor charges, and potential
imprisonment a truant child's parent might face, there are
monetary penalties for families with truant children receiving
CalWORKs assistance. If a child in a CalWORKs family under
age 16 does not meet school attendance requirements, the grant
of any aided adult in the household is eliminated unless the
county determines good cause exists. If a child age 16 or
older doesn't meet school attendance requirements, his or her
grant amount is eliminated. In both cases, the family's
minimal CalWORKs grant amount is reduced in addition to the
imposition of civil penalties against the parent. This double
penalty for truancy doesn't exist for any other group of
children.
3)Prior Legislation . This bill is a narrowed version of AB 814
(Bradford) 2013. That bill was held on this committee's
Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081