"Special Committee Begins Deliberations"
SPECIAL COMMITTEE HOLDS TWO HEARINGS
The two-house bipartisan Special Committee on Welfare Reform
has held its first hearings, February 13 and February 20, in
the Capitol.
The February 13 hearing focused on four welfare proposals
currently on the table:
the governor's proposal, as proposed in his budget for
1997-98;
the legislative analyst's proposal (LAO);
the proposal from the California State Association of
Counties (CSAC) and the County Welfare Directors
Association (CWDA); and,
the proposal from a group of advocates, headed by the
Western Center for Law and Poverty.
The Committee went through federal welfare changes, topic by
topic, comparing each of the four proposals.
A side-by-side of these proposals is available from the
Assembly Appropriations Committee, State Capitol: ask for
"Welfare Reform Requirements Compared to Selected Reform
Proposals."
The governor's proposal and the LAO's proposal are available
on line: you can link to them from the Senate Health and
Human Services Committee's home page.
On February 20, the Special Committee held an informational
hearing on the characteristics of individuals on AFDC,
SSI/SSP, Food Stamps and General Assistance (GA).
Data on SSI/SSP came from the California Research Bureau,
the Department of Social Services (DSS), and the Public
Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
Data on AFDC and Food Stamps came from DSS, PPIC, and from
the California Work Pays Demonstration Project evaluation,
presented by Rosina Becerra, a UCLA researcher.
Data on GA came from the LAO and from the county welfare
departments in Los Angeles and San Joaquin.
The next hearing of the Special Committee will be Wednesday,
February 26, at 1:30 PM in Room 4203 of the Capitol. It
will be an informational hearing, including discussion of
changes in the Food Stamp program, primarily for able-bodied
adults who do not have dependent children.