"Welfare bills: Floor Analysis of SB 293"
Note: The welfare conference committee sent four bills to the floors of the
Legislature. These posts contain a Senate Floor Analysis of each bill.
CONFERENCE REPORT COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Bill No: SB 293
Author: Thompson
RN: 9717372
Report date: July 2, 1997
SUBJECT: Welfare Reform
Were the Conference amendments heard the Conference
committee? Yes
If yes, were they defeated? No
SUMMARY:
Under current law, the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) program provides public assistance to
indigent families. Able-bodied adult recipients who do not
have a child under age 3 must participate in the GAIN
employment training program, if funding is available for
child care and training. The federal welfare reform bill,
PL 104-193, converted AFDC into the federal Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and made
numerous changes to social and health services programs.
TANF increases the flexibility of states to revise AFDC
program administration, including eligibility requirements
and other provisions.
The Conference Committee on Welfare Reform proposes four
bills to address the new federal law: SB 293, SB 285, AB
1501 and AB 1006. California's revised AFDC program would
be named "California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids" or "CalWORKs".
The proposed amendments to SB 293 include a number of
provisions to implement the new federal TANF law and also
include significant revisions to other programs, including
General Assistance and Food Stamps.
INTENT
The proposed amendments express Legislative intent to
implement PL 104-193 in such a way as to meet the goals of
the new federal law, reduce child poverty, and reduce
dependency through job preparation, work, and marriage.
The amendments also state intent to avoid unintended
outcomes that adversely affect child well-being, increase
the incidence of domestic violence, or increase demand for
county general assistance.
COUNTY PLANS
Current law requires counties to prepare, and submit to the
state for approval, plans for a variety of programs, such
as the GAIN program, pilot programs, a cost control
program, etc. The proposed amendments delete a number of
plan requirements in current law and, instead, require each
county to develop a general "CalWORKs" plan, in
collaboration with appropriate public and private agencies,
to describe how the county will deliver a full range of
welfare-to-work services to aid recipients. The plan, to
be submitted to the Department of Social Services (DSS) by
January 15, 1998, would address employment services and
necessary supportive services, including child care,
transportation, and mental health and substance abuse
treatment. Current law requires that county GAIN plans be
approved by the Department of Social Services; these
amendments require, instead, that DSS must only certify, by
January 31, 1998, whether the county plan is in compliance
with state and federal law.
TRANSPORTATION
These amendments require coordination between county
welfare departments and local transit providers to ensure
that funds are used efficiently for the benefit of the
welfare recipient population. The amendments further
establish a priority for enhancement of transportation
services for welfare-to-work purposes, including
transportation alternatives such as vouchers, van pool,
etc.
JOB CREATION
Background: Currently, AFDC caseloads total approximately
800,000 statewide; based on estimates of the number of
cases that will leave aid or meet exemption criteria,
California will need to place between 350,000 and 500,000
parents into jobs or work-related activities within the
next few years. Given current job creation rates, this is
likely to present a challenge to many counties. EDD data
indicates that approximately 1.1 million Californians
currently are unemployed; although, approximately 300,000
jobs are created annually, the competition for jobs also is
likely to increase as high school and college graduates
enter the work force. Also, job growth does not
necessarily occur in the same communities as most
recipients reside.
EDD Councils: The proposed amendments require EDD to
convene a 12-member advisory council of retired and former
CEOs of major corporations to provide assistance to EDD in
recruiting employers to hire CalWORKs recipients. The
amendments also require EDD to consult with faith-based
community and civic leaders to assist in marketing and
recruitment efforts designed to encourage businesses to
hire welfare recipients. In addition, the amendments
require EDD to establish a clearinghouse to assist
businesses in hiring recipients.
Linked Deposit Program: State law authorizes a variety of
lending and investment programs within the state
treasurer's jurisdiction to hold and invest state and local
government monies. The proposed amendments authorize a
program to invest funds in local banks and authorize local
banks to use those funds for the purpose of financing small
business expansion in areas with high welfare caseloads.
ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFERS (EBT)
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is the transfer of cash
aid, food stamps or other public assistance benefits,
electronically, to a recipient's bank account; the
recipient can access the fund through a magnetic card
(similar to an ATM card).
These amendments would:
create an Electronic Benefits Transfer Advisory Committee
to approve requests for proposals for the implementation of
an EBT system for distribution of food stamps and other
benefits;
require the Health and Welfare Data Center to contract for
implementation of statewide EBT by January 1, 1999 and
require that the EBT system be fully operational by July 1,
1999 (for food stamps, the date is October 1, 2002);
specify minimum requirements for a statewide EBT system.
COUNTY ALLOCATIONS
The proposed amendments require the state and counties to
receive proportionate benefit from any TANF offsets to
state and county spending; currently the state's proportion
of AFDC costs is approximately one-half. These amendments
also maintain the existing share-of-cost for assistance
payments (50 percent TANF, 47.5 percent state, 2.5 percent
county). In addition, these amendments consolidate GAIN
and TANF-related county administration into a single "block
grant" allocation that includes the state and federal
portions for administration and welfare-to-work programs.
The amendments establish a county maintenance-of-effort
level in welfare-to-work programs and eligibility
administration (including food stamps) equal to the 1996-97
actual spending level. The amendments would correct
historical funding inequities among counties in GAIN
funding by establishing an equity for funding formula for
those services.
PERFORMANCE OUTCOME MONITORING
The proposed amendments require counties to participate in
program monitoring by collecting and reporting data in
order to meet federal reporting requirements and measure
statewide and locally-identified outcomes. The amendments
also require DSS to establish a Research and Monitoring
Advisory Committee composed of experts in research and
program evaluation to assist in data collection and
monitoring efforts. In addition, the amendments express
Legislative intent that any federal penalties (sanctions)
shall be shared equally between the state and the counties
and require a task force be convened to develop
recommendations regarding the allocation of federal
sanctions, should they be imposed in future years.
GENERAL ASSISTANCE
Current law requires counties to relieve and support their
indigent population not supported by other means with 100%
county funds. These programs are commonly referred to as
General Assistance programs. Generally, counties are
required to provide grants no lower than 62% of the 1991
federal official poverty line, but if they make the case to
the Commission on State Mandates that they are in
significant fiscal distress without the relief, they may
reduce the grant level to 40% of the 1991 poverty line
(which is $221 per month). Counties may also limit the
assistance to three-months-in-12-months for employable
individuals, deduct the value of up to $40 in in-kind
health care from the grant, make deductions of up to 25%
for recipients sharing housing, and sanction recipients for
not complying with work or other program requirements.
There are currently about 148,000 recipients statewide.
The proposed amendments establish a State General
Assistance Program commencing January 1, 1998, and specify
that the State pay 30% of the benefit costs and 85% of the
administrative costs. They require counties that choose to
participate, to establish standardized program rules and
benefit levels of $256 in Region I (high rent counties) and
$212 in Region II (low-cost rent counties), and allow
counties to supplement aid grant levels with county funds.
The costs of participating counties are capped at 70% of
the amount expended by the county in the 1996-1997 fiscal
year in providing nonhealth care benefits. Their
obligation to provide health care to indigents is not
affected by the State General Assistance program, and they
may continue to sanction employable recipients for not
complying with work or other program requirements. The
amendments also effectively preclude individuals exceeding
TANF time limits from accessing GA; require the Department
of Social Services to submit a report to the appropriate
budget and policy committee chairs on the fiscal
implications for the State General Assistance program of
Food Stamp eligibility changes; and establish a task force
of specified representatives to report by February 1, 1998
on how the General Assistance program could be consolidated
into the CalWORKs program.
INDIAN TRIBES
The new federal law permits American Indian tribes to
receive a direct allocation to operate their own TANF plan,
as long as their program meets TANF requirements. These
amendments require that DSS allocate funds to those tribes,
if any, that choose to directly administer the TANF program
on reservation land or rancherias. The amendments also
require DSS to collect specific data for tribes for the
purpose of implementation and administration of this
portion of the CalWORKs program.
ELIGIBILITY ISSUES
Income Reporting: Under current law, recipients make
monthly reports of earnings and other income to county
welfare departments. The proposed amendments would
eliminate the monthly reporting of income unless the amount
increases or decreases more than $75. The purpose of this
change is to reduce unnecessary paperwork by county
employees, whose time is intended to be redirected to
assisting recipients to become employed. A full
redetermination of income could be required every six
months.
Income and eligibility verification system (IEVS):
Counties forward selected case information to the state for
cross-checking with a computerized date base of income
sources (FTB, EDD, etc.). If an overpayment is detected,
the recipient is notified, but the notification can occur
several months after the discrepancy is found, by which
time significant amounts of overpayments may have accrued.
Approximately 50% of overpayments are due to county worker
error; however, the recipient must pay back the overpayment
regardless if caused by county error, recipient error, or
fraud. The proposed amendments require county welfare
departments to notify CalWORKs, General Assistance, food
stamp and Medi-Cal recipients within 15 days (30 days in
nonautomated counties) of identified overpayments, to
enable overpayments to be corrected before large amounts
accrue.
Truancy pilot projects: Under current law, recipients must
enroll school age children in school, but aid is not
contingent on attendance. These amendments authorize up to
five county truancy demonstration projects, to include San
Diego and Merced counties. The purpose of the pilots is to
test ways to reduce truancy and increase graduation rates
among youth on aid by providing social service intervention
and allowing the county to sanction families by reducing
their grant if a child remains habitually truant.
Immunizations: These amendments impose an additional
condition of eligibility by requiring new applicants to
show proof of immunization for all preschool children
within six months receipt of aid and, for current
recipients, within six months of their next eligibility
redetermination. The county welfare department would be
required to provide notice of the required immunizations
and information on where the immunizations can be obtained.
COUNTY DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
These amendments authorize up to seven county demonstration
projects to test alternative ways of delivering CalWORKs
services. The amendments require counties to maintain
statewide eligibility standards, grant levels, and other
basic requirements, but allows experimentation with the
fundamental welfare-to- work program. The amendments
further authorize counties to retain the savings achieved
by the project, upon a demonstration of positive outcomes,
as long as the savings are reinvested in the county
welfare-to-work program and meet other requirements.
EVALUATION OF CALWORKS IMPLEMENTATION
Under current law, demonstration projects are evaluated,
but there is no ongoing statewide evaluation of the overall
AFDC. The proposed amendments require DSS to ensure that a
comprehensive, independent statewide evaluation is
undertaken to evaluate the success of welfare-to-work
efforts, the impact on other public programs, and the
well-being of children. These amendments request the
University of California to establish a program to support
the research and evaluation effort by maintaining public
use data sets and establishing one or more Bureau of the
Census secure data sites to link census data with other
data sources.
OTHER
The proposed amendments specify that counties shall remain
responsible for eligibility determinations, and may
contract out other services to the extent allowed under
state and federal law as of August 22, 1997.
The amendments specify that this bill will become not
operative until the Budget Act of 1997 is chaptered.
By: Senate Health & Human Services Committee
Sara McCarthy/Ellen Dektar