AB 557 (Rubio): CalWORKs: Victim of Abuse. The text of the bill can be found here: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB557
2017 CA A 557: Bill Analysis - 04/03/2017 - Assembly Appropriations Committee, Hearing Date 04/05/2017
Date of Hearing: April 5, 2017
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Chair
AB 557
(Rubio) - As Introduced February 14, 2017
Policy Committee: Human Services Vote: 7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Reimbursable: Yes
Program: Yes
SUMMARY: This bill expands and modifies the circumstances for waiving the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program requirements for victims of abuse. Specifically, this bill:
1) Deletes language authorizing a county to waive a CalWORKs program requirement for a recipient who has been identified as a past or present victim of abuse where good cause has been found that participation in regular employment or welfare-to-work activities is detrimental to or unfairly penalizes the individual or his or her family.
2) Instead requires a county to waive any program requirement for an applicant or recipient who is a past or present victim of abuse when the requirement would have the effect of placing a family at risk of harm, unfairly penalizing a family, or making it more difficult for a family to escape abuse.
3) Adds subjecting a victim to extreme cruelty by "economic control" to the definition of abuse.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1) Unknown, ongoing costs likely at least in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (federal funds/GF) for CalWORKs assistance and administration to the extent additional applicants would qualify for waivers under the provisions of this measure. If an additional 1,000 applicants qualified for aid under this bill and received only the average monthly grant of $534, the cost for assistance would be $534,000 (federal funds/GF).
2) Unknown potential impact on the federal work participation rate (WPR). To the extent a significant number of applicants and recipients qualify for waivers of welfare-to-work requirements, this bill could compromise the state's ability to meet the federal WPR, which could result in future federal penalty assessments, which could eventually be deducted from future federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant awards.
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose. Advocates indicate that, "[This bill] would strengthen support for domestic violence victims who are applicants or recipients of CalWORKs assistance by requiring counties to waive any rule that would disadvantage a victim of domestic abuse or make it more difficult for them to escape abuse. It would do so by changing the current law from 'allowing' that a family violence waiver is offered to a victim of domestic abuse to 'requiring' that it must be given under certain circumstances. It would also expand the list of rules that can be waived to any which disadvantage victims of domestic abuse or further endanger them. Current state law is interpreted to only allow for waivers to be given if the abuse interrupts ability to participate in welfare to work."
2) Domestic Violence Waivers in CalWORKs. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) created the block-granted TANF program. Among a number of new requirements and other program changes, PRWORA created a Family Violence Option (FVO) to address the barriers that domestic violence poses within the context of federal aid under TANF. Federal law allows states to implement a special program, within its TANF program, to serve victims of domestic violence and to waive program requirements for such individuals. Federal regulations further grant states broad flexibility to grant program waivers to victims of domestic violence.
AB 1542 (Ducheny), Chapter 270, Statutes of 1997, created the CalWORKs program as California's implementation of federal welfare reform and adopted the state's own family violence provision, which required a task force to work in consultation with DSS to develop protocols for handling cases of CalWORKs recipients who are past or present victims of abuse. With respect to domestic violence waivers, AB 1542 sought to ensure that applicants and recipients who are past or present victims of abuse are not placed at further risk or unfairly penalized by CalWORKs requirements and procedures. Regulations outline which program requirements counties cannot waive, including asset, income, homeless assistance, and deprivation requirements, and which can be waived, including work requirements and time limits. The regulations also require counties to provide applicants and recipients the opportunity to confidentially self-identify or disclose domestic abuse, and to offer information and resource materials on domestic abuse. Counties must also advise CalWORKs participants of the availability of related services, and are required to develop a welfare-to-work plan for victims of abuse.
While lacking exact data regarding the number of CalWORKs domestic violence waivers issued, DSS estimates that based on data from 2012 and 2013, the likely average monthly number of domestic violence waivers statewide was about 4,000. This bill broadens the definition of abuse to include "economic control" and would require a county (not allow, as under current law) to waive any program requirement (not just regular employment or a welfare-to-work activity), if it determines that the requirement places a family at risk of harm, penalizes a family or makes it more difficult to escape abuse, rather than the current determination of good cause. The extent of the impact of these changes on caseloads is unknown, but is likely substantial.
3) Prior Legislation.
a) AB 1653 (Garcia), of the 2013-14 Legislative Session, was a narrowed version of AB 1107 (Garcia). That bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
b) AB 1107 (Garcia), of the 2013-14 Legislative Session, would have established statewide standards for notifying CalWORKs applicants and recipients of accommodations available to them if they are victims of domestic violence and established criteria for granting such waivers. That bill was held on this Committee's Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 |