BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1039
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 1999
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Dion Aroner, Chair
AB 1039 (Aroner) - As Amended: April 8, 1999
SUBJECT : CalWORKs program
SUMMARY : Permits counties to provide subsidized employment
activities for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) recipients; revises the education component of
the CalWORKs program; and revises county notice requirements.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits counties to establish a subsidized employment program
as an alternative, or in addition to, community service
activities, subject to the following conditions:
a) Participants shall be entitled to a stipend of $90 per
month for mandatory payroll deductions and other work
expenses instead of the earned income disregard.
b) Participation shall not exceed one year in duration.
c) Participants shall accrue at least four hours of sick
leave or family leave per month or a higher amount if the
employer offers such leave to comparable employees.
d) Participants shall be offered vacation leave to the same
extent as it is available to comparable employees at the
worksite.
e) Participants shall be paid in cash for accrued but
unused leave at the time they leave subsidized employment
due to unsubsidized employment.
f) Counties shall count toward the participant's weekly
hours of participation requirement the hours of sick leave
authorized by the employer and hours a participant cannot
work because of employer-recognized holidays.
g) Participants shall be considered employees for all
purposes, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, and must
be compensated at no less than the higher of the state or
federal minimum wage.
h) Counties shall require that participants perform at
least 24 hours of work per week which may be increased at
the option of the county to 32 hours per week.
i) Counties shall assist recipients in applying and
qualifying for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
j) Participants who fail to perform the required number of
AB 1039
Page 2
hours in the first month shall be entitled to an assistance
payment equal to the wages not received for the hours not
worked, but shall be ineligible for the program if they
fail to meet the work requirement in the second month.
aa) The employer or an entity other than the county shall
pay participants wages.
bb) Counties may fund the wages for subsidized employment
through their single allocation or any other funds.
2)Requires counties to include in their existing notice to
CalWORKs applicants and in the welfare-to-work plan, a
description of the right of the applicant or recipient to
contest the terms of his or her welfare-to-work plan or seek
changes in the plan.
3)Provides that CalWORKs recipients enrolled in an educational
or vocational training program are entitled to count classroom
preparation time toward their 32 hour work participation
requirement and presumes that two hours of study time are
required for each hour of classroom instruction.
4)Conforms the allowable work activities for students to the
allowable work activities for other CalWORKs recipients.
5)Permits a former CalWORKs recipient to claim a good cause
exemption from the county welfare department for
noncooperation with child support services in the same manner
as CalWORKs applicants and recipients.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the CalWORKs program, which provides time-limited
cash assistance and supportive services to eligible low-income
families.
2)Requires CalWORKs recipients to participate in certain
welfare-to-work activities for a specified number of hours
each week, unless otherwise exempt.
3)Permits counties to provide community service activities for
CalWORKs recipients who have not met their time limits and are
not employed in unsubsidized employment sufficient to meet the
required hours of participation.
4)Requires counties to provide community service activities for
AB 1039
Page 3
CalWORKs recipients who have met their time limits and cannot
find unsubsidized employment sufficient to meet the required
hours of participation when the county certifies that no job
is currently available to fulfill the required hours.
5)Provides that an applicant for, or a recipient of, CalWORKs
benefits who is dissatisfied with his or her welfare-to-work
plan may seek review through an independent assessment process
or a state or county hearing or grievance process.
6)Requires that the county provide a CalWORKs applicant or
recipient with a description of program requirements, in
writing or orally, as necessary.
7)Provides that any CalWORKs recipient who, at the time he or
she is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities,
is enrolled in any undergraduate degree or certificate program
may continue in that program if the county determines the
program is likely to lead to employment.
8)Requires that a CalWORKs recipient who is participating in
educational or vocational training and whose weekly hours of
classroom, laboratory, or internship activities total less
than 32, must participate up to the required 32 hours in other
work activities which are more narrowly defined than for other
CalWORKs recipients.
9)Requires CalWORKs applicants and recipients to cooperate with
child support services unless they have established good cause
for not doing so as determined by the county welfare
department. Requires the district attorney to suspend child
support enforcement efforts if the county welfare department
makes a finding of good cause for a failure to cooperate
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
SUBSIDIZED EMPLOYMENT
1)As part of California's welfare reform plan, a CalWORKs
recipient who is not employed after 18 or 24 months on aid
must go into community service employment. Community service
employment is work performed by recipients of public
assistance that otherwise would have gone undone by employees
AB 1039
Page 4
in the public, private or non-profit sector. There are two
broad approaches to community service: workfare and wage-based
community service. Under workfare, recipients are required to
participate in community service as a condition of receiving
their public assistance grant. Under wage-based community
service, the recipient's grant is used to fully or partially
offset wages that are paid to the recipient. The CalWORKs
program allows counties to provide either workfare or
wage-based community service, provided that the compensation
for community service does not exceed the recipient's grant
amount.
2)The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recently completed a
report on CalWORKs community service, "CalWORKS Community
Service, What Does It Mean for California?" (February 4,
1999). In that report, LAO found that wage-based community
service results in more income for families by allowing them
to access the EITC. A typical family of three in wage-based
community service would receive an EITC of about $250 per
month, or about $3,000 per year. The report also noted that
wage-based community service aids recipients in the transition
to work by giving participants actual work experience.
According to this report, advantages to the state include an
increase in sales tax revenues associated with the expenditure
of EITC funds by recipients and a potential savings from
reduced welfare benefits if wage-based community service is
more effective than workfare in assisting recipients find
unsubsidized work.
3)The author states that it is her intent to allow, but not
mandate, counties to create wage-based community service
programs for CalWORKs recipients that will give those
recipients real-life work opportunities and increase their
household income. She further states that this bill has been
crafted to ensure that the community service will qualify
participants for the EITC and yet allow counties to establish
reasonable rules relating to hours of work. The bill also
permits wage-based community service positions in both the
public and private sectors to allow the greatest number of
potential employers of CalWORKs recipients.
4)Several states have wage-based community service employment.
Vermont, Washington and Pennsylvania have some of the larger
programs. Local initiatives have been established in
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Detroit.
AB 1039
Page 5
5)Supporters argue that current community service policy limits
the ability of counties to use a work-like setting for
participants who are able and ready to hold a job. This bill,
they say, would allow counties to create new opportunities for
recipients. Housing California supports this bill but
suggests that the private for-profit sector should not be used
as community service employers.
AB 1039
Page 6
SELF-INITIATED EDUCATION PROGRAMS
6)The author states that one purpose of this bill is to correct
discriminatory hourly requirements for CalWORKs recipients who
are self-initiated students. She states that a recent
oversight hearing by the Select Committee on Welfare Reform
Implementation on the role of community colleges in welfare
reform determined that there are several barriers to CalWORKs
recipients receiving an education. One of the major barriers
identified was the current law requirement that students may
not count their study time towards their work participation
hours.
7)Western Center on Law and Poverty, the bill's sponsor, notes
that current law puts student CalWORKs participants at a
distinct disadvantage by requiring more combined hours of work
activity than other participants. A single parent recipient
in a full-time education program must add 17-20 hours of
employment or other work activities to satisfy the CalWORKs
requirement. If that student's study time is two hours for
each classroom hour and he or she is taking 15 units, that
student will have to devote 62 hours per week of education or
work activities to meet the participation requirement since 30
hours are not counted. This, the sponsor says, jeopardizes
the well-being and development of the student's children and
risks the educational success of the student.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Western Center on Law and Poverty (Sponsor)
Housing California
Equal Rights Advocates
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
National Organization of Women
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Curtis Child / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2247