AB 1970

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law provides for protection, care, and assistance for people of the state, and the promotion of the welfare and happiness of all people in the state by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Programs established for this purpose include CalWORKs, which provides cash assistance and other social services to needy families, using federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds, and CalFresh, whereby nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Counties administer the CalWORKs and CalFresh programs. This bill, the Social Services Modernization Act of 2012, would require a final operational state plan submitted by any department administered by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services state agency to a federal agency in the context of providing public social services to be electronically available on the relevant department's Internet Web site, as specified. This bill would, pending approval of any necessary federal waivers, require the State Department of Social Services to promulgate regulations to authorize applicants for and recipients of aid to electronically access notices and communications pertaining to eligibility and benefit issuance, as specified. The bill would authorize applicants and recipients to opt out of receiving electronic notice, and would provide for the confidentiality of an applicant's or recipient's electronic information, as specified. This bill would prohibit a county from requiring an applicant or recipient for public benefits to verify information provided to the county, except when the verification is required by federal law, or is necessary to determine eligibility for aid or to compute the amount of aid. If the verification is inconsistent with other verified information, this bill would require a county eligibility worker to provide to the applicant or recipient a notice of action specifying the type of verification required to verify eligibility, as specified. This bill would require county human services departments to maximize use of electronic means of verifying applicant and recipient information, and would require the state to work with counties to develop a protocol enabling statewide use by applicants and recipients of public social services programs of a specified electronic database developed to verify eligibility information for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This bill would provide that the identity of, or certain information relating to, an applicant or recipient shall be considered to be verified under prescribed circumstances. This bill would revise procedures relating to public social services application and recertification interviews to require these interviews to be conducted in person, by telephone, or by other electronic means, to promote administrative efficiency and reduce costs to applicants and recipients. Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires every individual, as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, to participate in welfare-to-work activities. This bill would deem an adult CalWORKs recipient to be in compliance with existing welfare-to-work requirements if he or she meets the minimum federal welfare-to-work requirements. The bill would provide that a person satisfying these requirements would be eligible for specified support services, and would not be subject to sanction for failure or refusal to comply with program requirements, as specified. Existing law prohibits an applicant from being granted public assistance, as specified, until he or she is personally interviewed by the county welfare department or state hospital staff. This bill would no longer require these interviews to be conducted personally, and would require the county to conduct the interview on the same day of the initial application, to the extent it is cost effective and administratively possible for the department. This bill would apply these provisions to applicants for CalFresh benefits. Existing law requires a county welfare department, to the extent provided by federal law, to provide CalFresh benefits on an expedited basis to certain households. This bill would require the department, to the extent allowed by federal law and any federal waivers secured by the department, to postpone expedited service interviews that have been attempted and require that the interviews be conducted at the same time as the interview for issuance of regular CalFresh benefits, as specified, and to issue expedited service to any applicant who meets expedited service eligibility requirements and whose identity has been verified, as specified. Existing law requires county welfare departments to provide transitional CalFresh benefits to households terminating their participation in the CalWORKs program, to the maximum extent allowable by federal law. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to implement the above requirement so as to maximize continued enrollment of eligible recipients, pursuant to a specified federal regulation. This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement the bill by means of all-county letters or similar instructions, by January 1, 2013. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of implementing the bill. Because this bill would increase duties of counties administering public social services programs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.