Bill Text: CA AB2151 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: CalWORKs: special diet or food preparation needs allowance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB2151 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2151-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2151 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chu
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
An act to amend Section 11450 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to CalWORKs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2151, as amended, Chu. CalWORKs: special diet or food
preparation needs allowance.
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and
other social services to needy families through the California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using
federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grant program,
state, and county funds. Existing law specifies the amounts of cash
aid to be paid each month to CalWORKs recipients, including an
allowance of $10 for each eligible recipient for recurring
special needs, as specified. which includes
special diets, upon the recommendation of a physician for conditions
other than pregnancy, and unusual costs of transportation,
laundry, housekeeping services, telephone, and utilities.
This bill would include food preparation needs within the
recurring special needs for which a recipient may receive the $10
monthly allowance. The bill would also require that an
additional allowance be paid each month in the amount of $20 or
actual expenses, whichever is greater, to a recipient who has a
special, diet-related food need caused by a permanent or temporary
medical condition, other than pregnancy. The bill would
require the verification to be signed by a licensed physician,
dentist, dietician, nutritionist, or other qualified health
practitioner. The bill would require verification of
the recipient's medical condition by a health care provider, as
specified. By increasing the administrative duties of counties
administering the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General
Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation
would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 11450 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
11450. (a) (1) (A) Aid shall be paid for each needy family, which
shall include all eligible brothers and sisters of each eligible
applicant or recipient child and the parents of the children, but
shall not include unborn children, or recipients of aid under Chapter
3 (commencing with Section 12000), qualified for aid under this
chapter. In determining the amount of aid paid, and notwithstanding
the minimum basic standards of adequate care specified in Section
11452, the family's income, exclusive of any amounts considered
exempt as income or paid pursuant to subdivision (e) or Section
11453.1, determined for the prospective semiannual period pursuant to
Sections 11265.1, 11265.2, and 11265.3, and then calculated pursuant
to Section 11451.5, shall be deducted from the sum specified in the
following table, as adjusted for cost-of-living increases pursuant to
Section 11453 and paragraph (2). In no case shall the amount of aid
paid for each month exceed the sum specified in the following table,
as adjusted for cost-of-living increases pursuant to Section 11453
and paragraph (2), plus any special needs, as specified in
subdivisions (c), (e), and (f):
Number
of
eligible
needy
persons
in Maximum
the same home aid
1.............................. $ 326
2.............................. 535
3.............................. 663
4.............................. 788
5.............................. 899
6.............................. 1,010
7.............................. 1,109
8.............................. 1,209
9.............................. 1,306
10 or more...................... 1,403
(B) If, when, and during those times that the United States
government increases or decreases its contributions in assistance of
needy children in this state above or below the amount paid on July
1, 1972, the amounts specified in the above table shall be increased
or decreased by an amount equal to that increase or decrease by the
United States government, provided that no increase or decrease shall
be subject to subsequent adjustment pursuant to Section 11453.
(2) The sums specified in paragraph (1) shall not be adjusted for
cost of living for the 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95,
1995-96, 1996-97, and 1997-98 fiscal years, and through October 31,
1998, nor shall that amount be included in the base for calculating
any cost-of-living increases for any fiscal year thereafter.
Elimination of the cost-of-living adjustment pursuant to this
paragraph shall satisfy the requirements of former Section 11453.05,
and no further reduction shall be made pursuant to that section.
(b) (1) When the family does not include a needy child qualified
for aid under this chapter, aid shall be paid to a pregnant child who
is 18 years of age or younger at any time after verification of
pregnancy, in the amount that would otherwise be paid to one person,
as specified in subdivision (a), if the child and her child, if born,
would have qualified for aid under this chapter. Verification of
pregnancy shall be required as a condition of eligibility for aid
under this subdivision.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), when the family does not
include a needy child qualified for aid under this chapter, aid shall
be paid to a pregnant woman for the month in which the birth is
anticipated and for the six-month period immediately prior to the
month in which the birth is anticipated, in the amount that would
otherwise be paid to one person, as specified in subdivision (a), if
the woman and child, if born, would have qualified for aid under this
chapter. Verification of pregnancy shall be required as a condition
of eligibility for aid under this subdivision.
(3) Paragraph (1) shall apply only when the Cal-Learn Program is
operative.
(c) The amount of forty-seven dollars ($47) per month shall be
paid to pregnant women qualified for aid under subdivision (a) or (b)
to meet special needs resulting from pregnancy if the woman and
child, if born, would have qualified for aid under this chapter.
County welfare departments shall refer all recipients of aid under
this subdivision to a local provider of the Women, Infants, and
Children program. If that payment to pregnant women qualified for aid
under subdivision (a) is considered income under federal law in the
first five months of pregnancy, payments under this subdivision shall
not apply to persons eligible under subdivision (a), except for the
month in which birth is anticipated and for the three-month period
immediately prior to the month in which delivery is anticipated, if
the woman and child, if born, would have qualified for aid under this
chapter.
(d) For children receiving AFDC-FC under this chapter, there shall
be paid, exclusive of any amount considered exempt as income, an
amount of aid each month that, when added to the child's income, is
equal to the rate specified in Section 11460, 11461, 11462, 11462.1,
or 11463. In addition, the child shall be eligible for special needs,
as specified in departmental regulations.
(e) (1) In addition to the amounts payable under subdivision (a)
and Section 11453.1, a family shall be entitled to receive an
allowance for recurring special needs not common to a majority of
recipients. These recurring special needs shall include, but not be
limited to, food preparation needs and unusual costs of
transportation, laundry, housekeeping services, telephone, and
utilities. The recurring special needs allowance for each family per
month shall not exceed that amount resulting from multiplying the sum
of ten dollars ($10) by the number of recipients in the family who
are eligible for assistance.
(2) Each recipient is entitled to a special, diet-related food
needs allowance of twenty dollars ($20) per month, or actual verified
expenses related to the special, diet-related food needs, whichever
is greater. The allowance shall be provided in the form of a
supplemental food benefit upon a county's receipt of verification
that a recipient has a special dietary need caused by a permanent or
temporary medical condition, other than pregnancy. This verification
shall be signed by a licensed physician, dentist, dietician,
nutritionist, or physician's assistant, or nurse
practitioner who has examined the patient, or other qualified
health practitioner. care provider to whom
the recipient has been referred. For verifications signed
by a health care provider as a result of a referral, the verification
also shall include the name and address of the referring provider.
(f) After a family has used all available liquid resources, both
exempt and nonexempt, in excess of one hundred dollars ($100), with
the exception of funds deposited in a restricted account described in
subdivision (a) of Section 11155.2, the family shall also be
entitled to receive an allowance for nonrecurring special needs.
(1) An allowance for nonrecurring special needs shall be granted
for replacement of clothing and household equipment and for emergency
housing needs other than those needs addressed by paragraph (2).
These needs shall be caused by sudden and unusual circumstances
beyond the control of the needy family. The department shall
establish the allowance for each of the nonrecurring special needs
items. The sum of all nonrecurring special needs provided by this
subdivision shall not exceed six hundred dollars ($600) per event.
(2) (A) Homeless assistance is available to a homeless family
seeking shelter when the family is eligible for aid under this
chapter. Homeless assistance for temporary shelter is also available
to homeless families that are apparently eligible for aid under this
chapter. Apparent eligibility exists when evidence presented by the
applicant, or that is otherwise available to the county welfare
department, and the information provided on the application documents
indicate that there would be eligibility for aid under this chapter
if the evidence and information were verified. However, an alien
applicant who does not provide verification of his or her eligible
alien status, or a woman with no eligible children who does not
provide medical verification of pregnancy, is not apparently eligible
for purposes of this section.
(B) A family is considered homeless, for the purpose of this
section, when the family lacks a fixed and regular nighttime
residence; or the family has a primary nighttime residence that is a
supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide
temporary living accommodations; or the family is residing in a
public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a
regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. A family is also
considered homeless for the purpose of this section if the family has
received a notice to pay rent or quit. The family shall demonstrate
that the eviction is the result of a verified financial hardship as a
result of extraordinary circumstances beyond their control, and not
other lease or rental violations, and that the family is experiencing
a financial crisis that could result in homelessness if preventative
assistance is not provided.
(3) (A) (i) A nonrecurring special needs benefit of sixty-five
dollars ($65) a day shall be available to families of up to four
members for the costs of temporary shelter, subject to the
requirements of this paragraph. The fifth and additional members of
the family shall each receive fifteen dollars ($15) per day, up to a
daily maximum of one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125). County
welfare departments may increase the daily amount available for
temporary shelter as necessary to secure the additional bedspace
needed by the family.
(ii) This special needs benefit shall be granted or denied
immediately upon the family's application for homeless assistance,
and benefits shall be available for up to three working days. The
county welfare department shall verify the family's homelessness
within the first three working days and, if the family meets the
criteria of questionable homelessness established by the department,
the county welfare department shall refer the family to its early
fraud prevention and detection unit, if the county has such a unit,
for assistance in the verification of homelessness within this
period.
(iii) After homelessness has been verified, the three-day limit
shall be extended for a period of time which, when added to the
initial benefits provided, does not exceed a total of 16 calendar
days. This extension of benefits shall be done in increments of one
week and shall be based upon searching for permanent housing which
shall be documented on a housing search form, good cause, or other
circumstances defined by the department. Documentation of a housing
search shall be required for the initial extension of benefits beyond
the three-day limit and on a weekly basis thereafter as long as the
family is receiving temporary shelter benefits. Good cause shall
include, but is not limited to, situations in which the county
welfare department has determined that the family, to the extent it
is capable, has made a good faith but unsuccessful effort to secure
permanent housing while receiving temporary shelter benefits.
(B) (i) A nonrecurring special needs benefit for permanent housing
assistance is available to pay for last month's rent and security
deposits when these payments are reasonable conditions of securing a
residence, or to pay for up to two months of rent arrearages, when
these payments are a reasonable condition of preventing eviction.
(ii) The last month's rent or monthly arrearage portion of the
payment (I) shall not exceed 80 percent of the family's total monthly
household income without the value of CalFresh benefits or special
needs benefit for a family of that size and (II) shall only be made
to families that have found permanent housing costing no more than 80
percent of the family's total monthly household income without the
value of CalFresh benefits or special needs benefit for a family of
that size.
(iii) However, if the county welfare department determines that a
family intends to reside with individuals who will be sharing housing
costs, the county welfare department shall, in appropriate
circumstances, set aside the condition specified in subclause (II) of
clause (ii).
(C) The nonrecurring special needs benefit for permanent housing
assistance is also available to cover the standard costs of deposits
for utilities which are necessary for the health and safety of the
family.
(D) A payment for or denial of permanent housing assistance shall
be issued no later than one working day from the time that a family
presents evidence of the availability of permanent housing. If an
applicant family provides evidence of the availability of permanent
housing before the county welfare department has established
eligibility for aid under this chapter, the county welfare department
shall complete the eligibility determination so that the denial of
or payment for permanent housing assistance is issued within one
working day from the submission of evidence of the availability of
permanent housing, unless the family has failed to provide all of the
verification necessary to establish eligibility for aid under this
chapter.
(E) (i) Except as provided in clauses (ii) and (iii), eligibility
for the temporary shelter assistance and the permanent housing
assistance pursuant to this paragraph shall be limited to one period
of up to 16 consecutive calendar days of temporary assistance and one
payment of permanent assistance. Any family that includes a parent
or nonparent caretaker relative living in the home who has previously
received temporary or permanent homeless assistance at any time on
behalf of an eligible child shall not be eligible for further
homeless assistance. Any person who applies for homeless assistance
benefits shall be informed that the temporary shelter benefit of up
to 16 consecutive days is available only once in a lifetime, with
certain exceptions, and that a break in the consecutive use of the
benefit constitutes permanent exhaustion of the temporary benefit.
(ii) A family that becomes homeless as a direct and primary result
of a state or federally declared natural disaster shall be eligible
for temporary and permanent homeless assistance.
(iii) A family shall be eligible for temporary and permanent
homeless assistance when homelessness is a direct result of domestic
violence by a spouse, partner, or roommate; physical or mental
illness that is medically verified that shall not include a diagnosis
of alcoholism, drug addiction, or psychological stress; or, the
uninhabitability of the former residence caused by sudden and unusual
circumstances beyond the control of the family including natural
catastrophe, fire, or condemnation. These circumstances shall be
verified by a third-party governmental or private health and human
services agency, except that domestic violence may also be verified
by a sworn statement by the victim, as provided under Section
11495.25. Homeless assistance payments based on these specific
circumstances may not be received more often than once in any
12-month period. In addition, if the domestic violence is verified by
a sworn statement by the victim, the homeless assistance payments
shall be limited to two periods of not more than 16 consecutive
calendar days of temporary assistance and two payments of permanent
assistance. A county may require that a recipient of homeless
assistance benefits who qualifies under this paragraph for a second
time in a 24-month period participate in a homelessness avoidance
case plan as a condition of eligibility for homeless assistance
benefits. The county welfare department shall immediately inform
recipients who verify domestic violence by a sworn statement of the
availability of domestic violence counseling and services, and refer
those recipients to services upon request.
(iv) If a county requires a recipient who verifies domestic
violence by a sworn statement to participate in a homelessness
avoidance case plan pursuant to clause (iii), the plan shall include
the provision of domestic violence services, if appropriate.
(v) If a recipient seeking homeless assistance based on domestic
violence pursuant to clause (iii) has previously received homeless
avoidance services based on domestic violence, the county shall
review whether services were offered to the recipient and consider
what additional services would assist the recipient in leaving the
domestic violence situation.
(vi) The county welfare department shall report necessary data to
the department through a statewide homeless assistance payment
indicator system, as requested by the department, regarding all
recipients of aid under this paragraph.
(F) The county welfare departments, and all other entities
participating in the costs of the CalWORKs program, have the right in
their share to any refunds resulting from payment of the permanent
housing. However, if an emergency requires the family to move within
the 12-month period specified in subparagraph (E), the family shall
be allowed to use any refunds received from its deposits to meet the
costs of moving to another residence.
(G) Payments to providers for temporary shelter and permanent
housing and utilities shall be made on behalf of families requesting
these payments.
(H) The daily amount for the temporary shelter special needs
benefit for homeless assistance may be increased if authorized by the
current year's Budget Act by specifying a different daily allowance
and appropriating the funds therefor.
(I) No payment shall be made pursuant to this paragraph unless the
provider of housing is a commercial establishment, shelter, or
person in the business of renting properties who has a history of
renting properties.
(g) The department shall establish rules and regulations ensuring
the uniform statewide application of this section.
(h) The department shall notify all applicants and recipients of
aid through the standardized application form that these benefits are
available and shall provide an opportunity for recipients to apply
for the funds quickly and efficiently.
(i) (A) (1)
Except for the purposes of Section 15200, the amounts payable
to recipients pursuant to Section 11453.1 shall not constitute part
of the payment schedule set forth in subdivision (a).
(B) (2)
The amounts payable to recipients pursuant to Section 11453.1
shall not constitute income to recipients of aid under this section.
(j) For children receiving Kin-GAP pursuant to Article 4.5
(commencing with Section 11360) or Article 4.7 (commencing with
Section 11385) there shall be paid, exclusive of any amount
considered exempt as income, an amount of aid each month, which, when
added to the child's income, is equal to the rate specified in
Sections 11364 and 11387.
(k) (1) A county shall implement the semiannual reporting
requirements in accordance with Chapter 501 of the Statutes of 2011
no later than October 1, 2013.
(2) Upon completion of the implementation described in paragraph
(1), each county shall provide a certificate to the director
certifying that semiannual reporting has been implemented in the
county.
(3) Upon filing the certificate described in paragraph (2), a
county shall comply with the semiannual reporting provisions of this
section.
SEC. 2. No appropriation pursuant to Section 15200 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code shall be made for purposes of implementing this
act.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.
