SB 282 (Wiener): CalFresh and CalWORKs requires the State Department of Social Services to issue an annual letter providing guidance that lists which counties or regions are eligible to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program and certain instructions. Includes subsidized employment as a CalFresh Employment and Training program component that a county may offer. Provides for the use of EBT cards, employment services for noncustodial parents, and the expenditure of certain funds.
The text of the bill can be found here: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB282
2017 CA S 282: Bill Analysis - 03/24/2017 - Senate Hum Srvcs Committee, Hearing Date 03/28/2017
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Senator Wiener, Chair
2017 - 2018 Regular
Bill No: SB 282
Author: Wiener
Version: March 15, 2017 Hearing Date: March 28, 2017
Urgency: No Fiscal: Yes
Consultant: Taryn Smith
Subject: CalFresh and CalWORKs
SUMMARY
The Reducing Hunger Among Vulnerable Californians Act of 2017 will:
1) Authorize a county to provide employment services to a noncustodial parent of a child receiving benefits under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program,
2) Codify in state law the CalFresh Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) and establish requirements for the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to implement the RMP, and
3) Require CDSS to seek a federal waiver that would allow counties participating in CalFresh Employment and Training (E&T) to offer subsidized employment to able bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs).
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
CalWORKs
1) Establishes the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which permits states to implement the program under a state plan. (42 USC Section 601 et seq.)
2) Establishes in state law the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program to provide cash assistance and other social services for low-income families through the federal TANF program. Under CalWORKs, each county provides assistance through a combination of state, county and federal TANF funds. (WIC 10530)
3) Requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid and requires that necessary supportive services be available to participants in welfare-to-work activities, including child care, as specified. (WIC 11320 et seq)
4) Requires CDSS to develop an allocation methodology to distribute funding for expanded subsidized employment programs for CalWORKs recipients, or recipients who have exceeded the 48-month time limit, and authorizes the allocated funds to be utilized to cover all expenditures related to the operational costs of the program. (WIC 11322.64)
CalFresh
5) Establishes in federal law the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to promote the general welfare and to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the nation's population by raising the levels of nutrition among low-income households. It establishes SNAP eligibility requirements, including income that is at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level and is determined to be a substantial limiting factor in permitting a recipient to obtain a more nutritious diet (7 CFR 271.1; 7 CFR 273.9)
6) Establishes work requirements and exemptions for the federal SNAP E&T program. (7 CFR 273.7)
7) Establishes the Restaurant Meals Program under SNAP to allow eligible homeless, disabled or elderly recipients to purchase hot, prepared food from participating restaurants. (7 CFR 2020)
8) Limits ABAWDs to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met specified work participation requirements. (7 CFR 273.24)
9) Establishes in California statute the CalFresh program to administer the provisions of federal SNAP benefits to low-income families and individuals meeting specified criteria. (WIC 18900 et seq.)
10) Establishes in the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Act a system for the distribution and use of public assistance benefits, such as CalFresh, and requires EBT access to be provided through automated teller machines (ATMs), point-of-sale devices and other devices that accept EBT transactions. (WIC 10065 et seq.)
11) Directs CDSS to annually seek a federal waiver of the three month ABAWD time limit, and provides that an eligible county is included in this waiver unless the county declines to participate in the waiver request. (WIC 18926(a))
12) Establishes the CalFresh Employment and Training program (CalFresh E&T) to assist members of CalFresh households in gaining skills, training, work, or experience that will increase their ability to obtain regular employment. (WIC 18926.5. (a))
13) Requires that a California county that elects to participate in CalFresh E&T screen CalFresh work registrants to determine whether they will participate in, or be deferred from, the program. Requires that an individual be deferred from a mandatory placement in the CalFresh E&T program for a number of specified reasons, including residence in a federally determined work surplus area. (WIC 18926.5(b))
This bill:
1) Shall be known, and may be cited, as the Reducing Hunger Among Vulnerable Californians Act of 2017.
2) Permits a county to provide employment services to a noncustodial parent from its CalWORKs single allocation funds.
3) permits a county to use existing funds for the CalWORKs expanded subsidized employment program to provide employment services for noncustodial parents of children receiving benefits under the CalWORKs program.
4) Requires CDSS to issue an annual all-county letter providing guidance that lists which counties or regions are eligible to participate in the RMP because they meet the federal requirements to do so.
5) Requires that the all-county letter shall include instructions for how a county may choose to participate in RMP or appeal a noneligible determination by CDSS.
6) Requires CDSS to design the EBT system to automatically and upon issuance of an EBT card, allow all CalFresh recipients who are eligible for RMP to utilize their benefits in all restaurants that have been approved to participate in RMP.
7) Except for direct farm purchasing programs or where otherwise not required at a certified farmer's market, prohibits a restaurant from operating as an RMP vendor unless the restaurant permits customers to make in-store purchases, maintains a current public health license, and complies with all federal, state, and local health and safety laws, regulations, and ordinances, as specified.
8) Defines "in-store purchase" means any purchase that is not delivered to the purchaser.
9) Permits a county that elects to participate in RMP to determine the number, type, and location of restaurants the county may choose to include as vendors to align with county administrative capacity or other factors, including, but not limited to, location of participating restaurants and recipient demand.
10) Adds subsidized employment for ABAWDs, as defined, to the list of components that a county may offer under CalFresh E&T.
11) Requires CDSS to seek a federal waiver that would allow 50-percent federal reimbursement for eligible CalFresh E&T activities to be used to provide a wage subsidy for ABAWD participants in counties that do not participate in the waiver of the ABAWD time limit.
12) Requires CDSS to include a provision in the waiver request to allow CalFresh E&T participants in the subsidized employment program to remain eligible for CalFresh benefits for up to six months following the date their first subsidized paycheck was issued, even if their income or assets otherwise exceed CalFresh eligibility limits during the six-month period.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
Despite having the fastest rate of job growth in the country, there are still some Californians who are unemployed or under-employed, according to the author. Many of these out-of-work Californians experience homelessness and struggle to prevent hunger with real job prospects further and further out of reach as each day passes, per the author.
According to the author, the Reducing Hunger Among Vulnerable Californians Act of 2017 seeks to address the multiple, often overlapping, challenges of hunger, joblessness and homelessness for low income Californians. This package of targeted program improvements will increase access to prepared food for low income homeless, elderly or disabled Californians and create job opportunities for low-income Californians who are childless or non-custodial parents, per the author, as follows:
* Two-thirds of CalWORKs cases are headed by a single parent. Non-custodial parents of children in poverty often fall behind in their child support payments because they, too, are struggling to get by. This bill will allow counties to provide employment services to a non-custodial parent of a child who is receiving CalWORKs benefits. The author states that this will increase probability that the parent will make child support payments and potentially enhance involvement with the child.
* Subsidized employment is a proven practice that helps low-wage workers to find employment, but California counties are not currently authorized to use CalFresh E&T funds to support subsidized employment for ABAWDs, per the author. AB 282 will require California to seek a waiver from the USDA that would allow the state to use federal CalFresh E&T funds to support a subsidized employment program for ABAWDs, according to the author.
* Federal law allows states and counties to participate in CalFresh RMP. However, some counties are stifled in implementing the program because the program rules have not been codified in state law, which leaves open some important questions about county control of the program, per the author. Currently, only eight California counties participate in RMP. SB 282 will address this issue by providing structure in state law around the RMP.
Anti-Poverty Programs
Despite the recent economic recovery, poverty continues to be a problem in California. According to the official poverty measure, nearly 6 million (15.3 percent) Californians lived in poverty in 2015{1}. According to the supplemental poverty measure, a more refined measure that takes into account cost of food, clothing and shelter and utilities and other factors, 8 million (20.6 percent) Californians lived in poverty in 2015.{2} Two of California's prominent anti-poverty programs, CalWORKs and CalFresh, are described below.
CalWORKs
The CalWORKs program provides monthly income assistance and employment-related services aimed at moving children out of poverty and helping families meet basic needs. CalWORKs components include education, employment and training programs. The CalWORKs program is funded with a mix of federal TANF money, state, and county funds. CDSS is the designated state agency with responsibility for program supervision at the state level. The counties are responsible for administering the caseloads at the local level.
In order to be eligible for CalWORKs, families must meet income and asset tests of no more than $2,250 in savings ($3,250 where the assistance unit includes at least one member who is disabled or aged 60 or older), excluding education and retirement plans plus one car worth $9,500 or less or that was received as a gift or family transfer or donation. In addition, children must be deprived of parental support and care due to the incapacity, death or absence of a parent or unemployment of the principal wage-earner. Persons fleeing to avoid prosecution, custody or confinement after conviction of a felony are not eligible for CalWORKs.
The average monthly cash grant for a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent and two children) in Fiscal Year 2016-17 is estimated at $514, and the maximum monthly grant amount for a family of three, if the family has no other income and lives in a high-cost county, is $714. According to recent data from the DSS, approximately 485,850 families rely on CalWORKs. Nearly 60% of cases include children under 6 years old. Two-thirds of CalWORKs cases are headed by a single parent.
Adult benefits in the CalWORKs program are contingent upon participation in welfare-to-work activities, which can include job finding, job training, educational pursuits, subsidized employment or unsubsidized employment, as defined and within specific parameters.
CalFresh
The CalFresh program provides qualified low-income households with EBT cards which are used to purchase food and seeds or plants that grow food for human consumption. CalFresh is California's version of the federal SNAP program. It is administered by CDSS at the state level. California's 58 counties are responsible for administering the program at the local level. CalFresh benefits are 100% federally funded and national eligibility standards and benefit levels are established by the federal government.
To participate in CalFresh, households must meet certain income-eligibility standards. Generally, households must have gross income below 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL), which is $26,208 for a family of three, and net income (after certain deductions) at or below 100% FPL, which is $20,160 for a family of three. A household with an elderly person or a person who is receiving certain types of disability payments only has to meet the net income test. CalFresh benefit levels are based on the household size and income after certain deductions. The average monthly CalFresh benefit in FY 2016-17 is projected at $293 per household and $140 per person.
California's EBT system automates the delivery, redemption, and reconciliation of public assistance benefits such as CalWORKs and CalFresh. EBT cards function like a bank-issued ATM cards. EBT cardholders can slide the card through a point-of-sale device, or use the card at an ATM. California EBT cards can be used at more than 15,000 businesses and over 54,000 ATMs in California. Unlike other types of benefits that may be accessed through an EBT card, CalFresh benefits cannot be withdrawn as cash.
Non-Custodial Parents
Studies have shown that non-custodial parents face significant barrier to paying regular child support because many are poor themselves and have a variety of financial challenges. For example:
* 41 percent of low-income, non-custodial fathers had been unemployed for at least one year.
* 2.5 million non-custodial fathers lived in poverty and had a limited ability to pay child support.
* 78 percent of non-custodial parents whose income was less than $10,000 per year paid less than half of their current support during the year. However, once incomes exceeded $10,000 per year compliance with orders increased.{3}
* About 3.5 million non-custodial fathers, almost one-third of all non-resident fathers are poor.
* Among poor non-custodial fathers about 1 million pay child support, despite their poverty status, the remaining 2.5 million default on their child support orders.{4}
The CalWORKs' Welfare to Work (WTW) program is designed to assist welfare recipients prepare for employment. All WTW participants receive an orientation to the program and an appraisal of their education and employment background. Initially, most individuals receive assistance in finding a job. Additional employment-related services are provided based on an individual's education and work history. Individuals may be assigned to unpaid work experience/preparation, vocational training placements, and adult education or community college programs.
Under subsidized employment programs, counties partner with private employers, non-profit organizations, and local public agencies to match low-income parents with employers in the community. Wages are partially subsidized while employers provide training and supervision. Currently, 45 counties participate in the CalWORKs Expanded Subsidized Employment programs, using TANF dollars.
This bill would provide employment services for non-custodial parents. Current law requires a parent receiving CalWORKs benefits to report the names of both parents, including a non-custodial parent, of a child receiving aid through the program. When appropriate, the state uses parental information to establish a child support collection case. In such cases, the child support payments are collected by the state. The parent who receives the child support will get the first $50 of the child support payment. This money is called a "disregard" because it is not counted against the family's CalWORKs grant. The rest of the payment is used to reimburse the program for the cost of the CalWORKs benefit. If a non-custodial parent obtains an income level that causes the child support payment to surpass the family's CalWORKs grant, then the child's family can exit the CalWORKs program.
CalFresh Restaurant Meals Program (RMP)
Recognizing that some recipients of SNAP, or CalFresh in California, benefits do not have access to grocery stores or the tools necessary to prepare a hot meal, USDA has created the voluntary RMP to help expand food access to homeless, elderly or disabled individuals who do not have a place to store and cook food.
Under the RMP, counties authorize CalFresh recipients to receive restaurant meal benefits if recipients meet the criteria, which includes homelessness, being elderly or having a disability. Authorized RMP restaurants within participating counties may accept EBT payments from CalFresh recipients.
To participate in the RMP, counties must submit a proposal to CDSS. Once approved, counties can then enter into memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with restaurants located within the county. The MOU must contain a requirement that the restaurant offer low cost meals to these recipients. MOUs are also contingent on restaurants being authorized by USDA as a SNAP retailer. Participating restaurants generally serve fast food.
County participation in the RMP is voluntary. Currently, only Sacramento, Los Angeles, Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties operate RMPs. Counties have reported that if the program were codified and with clarification that counties could moderate growth of the program and target areas for the program, they would be more likely to participate.
Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs)
Federal law restricts the amount of time a childless, able-bodied adult can receive SNAP benefits to three months during any three-year time period unless they are working at least 20 hours per week. Because it can be difficult to meet these work requirements when jobs are scarce, the federal government offers waivers to eliminate time limits in areas with high unemployment, known as Labor Surplus Areas. Under such a waiver, an ABAWD is still subject to the same work requirements as other adults receiving food stamps, but they are no longer cut off from food aid if they can't find a job by the end of three months.
California has been operating under a series of statewide waivers for the ABAWD time limit since October 1, 2008. The most current statewide waiver will expire on August 31, 2018 and it is possible that another waiver may not be granted due to the improving economy.
Absent the waiver, some ABAWDs will be required to meet the weekly work requirements and subject them to the three month cut off, placing them in jeopardy of losing their food benefits. CDSS reports there are more than 450,000 ABAWDs in the CalFresh caseload in FY 2017-18 and that loss of the ABAWD waiver could result in 10,000 individuals being discontinued from CalFresh. Some estimates place the number of ABAWDs who could lose their food benefits well over 150,000.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities{5} (CBPP), there is no single profile for the ABAWD population. About 45 percent are women and close to one-third are older than 40 years old. About 25 percent have less than a high school education, and half have only a high school diploma or GED. Many face multiple challenges to independence and self-sufficiency, including homelessness, physical and mental health limitations, language barriers, unstable employment histories, and criminal records. CBPP projects that six percent of ABAWDs who are likely to lose benefits are veterans. Veterans who have served since September 2001 remain more likely than most to struggle with finding employment, with an unemployment rate of 9 percent.
The CalFresh E&T (also known as CFET) is a county optional program designed to improve employability and increase self-sufficiency of Non-Assistance CalFresh applicants and recipients. Non-Assistance CalFresh recipients receive CalFresh benefits but do not receive a monthly cash grant under the CalWORKs program. Each county has discretion to determine the range of services, as well as the rules governing mandatory and voluntary placements and exemptions. Thirty three counties currently participate in the CalFresh E&T.
CalFresh E&T provides skills and job training that includes job club, job search, workfare, vocational training and basic education. Participants are reimbursed for transportation and other ancillary costs needed to take part in CalFresh E&T. Those who are required to participate in E&T and fail to do so without good reason are temporarily ineligible for CalFresh benefits.
Under subsidized employment programs, counties partner with private employers, non-profit organizations, and local public agencies to match program participants with employers in the community. Wages are partially subsidized while employers provide training and supervision. Currently, 45 counties participate in the CalWORKs Expanded Subsidized Employment programs, using TANF dollars.
Subsidized employment has been shown to be an effective means for moving people out of public assistance. For example, the City and County of San Francisco's Human Services Agency found that 6 months after ending their subsidized employment placement, 65 percent of clients who had been on CalWORKs or General Assistance were no longer income eligible to receive cash assistance; average quarterly earnings of previously aided clients had more than doubled, compared to pre-subsidized employment earnings.
Current federal law is silent on allowing CalFresh funds to be spent on subsidized employment. However, there is precedence for using SNAP dollars to fund subsidized employment. Oregon has a program using SNAP benefits for subsidized employment. Oregon's Jobs PLUS program allows participants to choose to put their SNAP and TANF benefits toward subsidizing employment for a certain period. It also may help connect people with the labor market to increase their incomes by leveraging working family tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, since wages paid under these programs qualify workers for these tax benefits.
Additionally, there are currently 10 SNAP-funded pilot projects designed to test innovative strategies and approaches that connect low-income households to good paying jobs.{6} Four of the pilots have subsidized employment as a program element, including one in Fresno County that will offer retention and training incentives to 3,400 participants. This pilot is currently underway and expected to be completed in August of 2017.
The bill's sponsors expect there will be an opportunity to expand the use of SNAP E&T for subsidized jobs programs through waivers of federal law.
Related legislation:
AB 1603 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 25, Statutes of 2016) streamlined the two former CalWORKs subsidized employment programs (the AB 98 program and the Expanded Subsidized Employment) in order to reduce the administrative burden and to help maximize utilization of the programs.
SB 904 (Hertzberg, 2016) would have required all eligible counties to be included in the federal waiver of the ABAWD time limitation and delete the authorization for the CDSS to implement this provision by all-county letters or similar instructions. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 306 (Hertzberg, 2015) would have required all counties to participate in the CalFresh E&T program, and direct each county to provide a placement in the program for every ABAWD that requests one. SB 306 would have made other changes regarding CalFresh E&T and ABAWDs. The bill was held in Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 74 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 21, Statutes of 2013), among other things, requires the CDSS, in consultation with counties, to develop an allocation methodology to distribute funding for expanded subsidized employment programs for CalWORKs recipients. Establishes a maintenance of effort to require counties that accept additional funding, pursuant to these provisions, to continue to expend no less than the aggregate amount of specified funds that the county expended for subsidized employment in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
SB 43 (Liu, Chapter 507, statutes of 2011) requires a county that elects to participate in the FSET program, which the bill designates as the CalFresh E&T program, to screen CalFresh work registrants to determine whether they will participate in, or be deferred from, the CalFresh E&T program, and describes the criteria for deferral. The bill authorized CalFresh recipients who are deferred from mandatory participation in the CalFresh E&T program to voluntarily participate and made other changes to CalFresh E&T.
SB 68 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 78, Statutes of 2005) made it mandatory, to the extent permitted by federal law, for CDSS to seek a federal waiver of the three month limitation on SNAP benefits for ABAWDs. SB 68 gave counties the option of choosing not to accept the waiver, thereby refusing federal money for food assistance.
POSITIONS
Support:
Equality California (Sponsor)
CCWRO/Western Center on Law and Poverty/CWDA/
City and County of San Francisco Human Services Agency (Co-Sponsors)
Bay Area Legal Aid
California Association of Food Banks
California Catholic Conference
California State Association of Counties
California Women's Law Center
Courage Campaign
Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano County
St. Anthony's Foundation
Oppose:
None.
1 https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/acsbr15-01.pdf
2 https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-258.pdf
3 http://raymarshallcenter.org/files/2005/07/NCP_Choices_Final_Sep_03_2009.pdf
4 https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mincy_paper.pdf
5 http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/who-are-the-low-income-childless-adults-facing-the-loss-of-snap-in-2016
6 https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/snap/SNAP-ET-Pilot-Summaries.pdf |