BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1233
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 1998
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
AB 1233 (Aroner) - As Introduced: February 26, 1999
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:5 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local
Program:YesReimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill makes numerous changes to the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program.
Among its provisions, the bill:
1)Exempts the value of one automobile from the CalWORKs resource
limit, irrespective of its value.
2)Eliminates the "deprivation" requirement, which presently
limits assistance to a family that includes a child deprived
of parental support due to the parent's death, incapacity,
incarceration or unemployment (that is, an absent or
unemployed parent).
3)Provides an exemption from welfare-to-work activities for a
child attending a post-secondary school and a child who
graduates from high school as long as he or she attends a
post-secondary education or training program.
4)Revises the definition of disability-based income to include
income from any benefit program that requires a determination
of disability made by the agency administering the benefit
program.
5)Disregards as income for purposes of determining the CalWORKs
grant level any amount of child or spousal support paid
pursuant to a child or spouse who is not in the home and
disregards up to $175 per month for each employed recipient
for the reasonable and necessary costs of obtaining care for
an individual in the household.
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6)Excludes from the CalWORKs time limit any month in which an
individual satisfies the hourly work participation requirement
through unsubsidized employment.
7)Also modifies the Child Support Assurance Demonstration
Project, a potential component of the CalWORKs program, by:
removing the three-county limit on the number of demonstration
projects; eliminating the requirement that a family must be
CalWORKs eligible as a condition of eligibility; and
prohibiting the use of state funds for program benefits if the
use of those funds would subject participants to time limits.
FISCAL EFFECT
Major annual costs, potentially in excess of $100 million
(General Fund, federal funds).
COMMENTS
1)Purpose of the Bill . According to the author, this bill
continues to reform welfare by further simplifying program
administration, correcting inadvertent and inequitable
changes, and clarifying ambiguous language. The author states
that some of the reforms included in this bill were discussed
as part of the welfare reform debate in 1997 but fiscal
limitations, not policy disputes, prevented their
implementation. The author believes these changes will
significantly improve the counties' ability to successfully
move CalWORKs recipients from welfare to work.
2)Deprivation . As part of welfare reform, many sought to
eliminate the requirement that a recipient of assistance must
be "deprived" of parental support for specified reasons such
as death, disability, absence or unemployment. There is a
fair degree of consensus that the "deprivation" provision
encourages the break-up of families and could pose a barrier
to family reunification since it makes two-parent families
ineligible for assistance. The deprivation requirement also
significantly complicates the eligibility process because it
requires caseworkers to spend time making complex eligibility
determinations regarding family status and employment history.
This bill continues the dual purpose of simplifying the
program and eliminating the deprivation requirement for
applicants, just as the CalWORKs law eliminated the
requirement for recipients.
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3)Automobile Exemption . As part of welfare reform, the
Legislature attempted to simplify the administrative burden of
determining the value of automobiles owned by CalWORKs
applicants and recipients by conforming the limit to the one
used in the food stamp program. However, counties still must
identify the value of automobiles. County welfare departments
state this is a costly and time-consuming process that
distracts caseworkers from assisting recipients in finding
work for little apparent benefit. By exempting the value of
one automobile the bill would simplify eligibility
determinations and assure more CalWORKs recipients will have
reliable transportation to assist them in obtaining
employment.
4)Income Disregards . Prior to welfare reform, a family was
entitled to disregard from any countable income the amount of
child or spousal support paid to a person outside of the
household and up to $175 per month for the reasonable and
necessary costs of obtaining care for an incapacitated
individual in the household. The author indicates this
provision was inadvertently repealed by the new disregard
provision. The bill restores previous law.
Regarding "disability-based income," the bill disregards all
disability-related income so that veteran's and other similar
benefits are not deducted from a CalWORKs recipient's grant.
5)Child Support Assurance Demonstration Project . The welfare
reform law established a three-county project to test whether
a guaranteed child support payment instead of welfare benefits
can improve the financial well-being of families. Three
counties have been selected to participate in this
demonstration project. This bill eliminates the three-project
limit and allows any county wishing to participate in the
project to do so. In addition, the bill eliminates the
several restrictions on the project that are part of current
law.
6)Prior Legislation . Some provisions of this measure were
included in AB 2634, also by this author, from the 1997-98
legislative session. AB 2634 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by : William Wehrle / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
AB 1233
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