SB 321

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law requires that necessary supportive services be available to participants in welfare-to-work activities, including childcare, which is provided pursuant to the Child Care and Development Services Act. The act establishes 3 stages of childcare services through which a recipient of CalWORKs will pass. The act requires county welfare departments to manage the first stage of childcare and requires the State Department of Education to manage the 2nd and 3rd stages. This bill would increase access to childcare supportive services for welfare-to-work participants by, among other things, requiring that the childcare be full-time unless the participant determines that part-time care better meets the family's needs, requiring first-stage childcare to be authorized for one year, or until the participant is transferred to the 2nd stage of childcare, and prohibiting the first stage or the 2nd stage of childcare services from being discontinued until confirmation is received from the administrator of the subsequent stage of childcare that the family has been enrolled or that the family is ineligible for services in the subsequent stage of childcare. The bill would also specify additional welfare-to-work program activities for which childcare services are available. This bill would require that the participant be informed of the availability of childcare services upon enrollment in the CalWORKs program and at later times when a participant expresses a need for childcare. By imposing new duties on county welfare departments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law makes confidential and prohibits the release of information about applicants for public social services. Notwithstanding this prohibition, existing law authorizes a county welfare department to share information necessary for the administration of childcare programs and the CalWORKs program. This bill would require that specified information necessary to enroll or transfer a family into childcare services be made available by a county welfare department to a contractor that provides childcare services. The bill would require, beginning no later than November 1, 2020, a county welfare department to provide a monthly report to stage-2 contractors containing specified information. The bill would authorize a county welfare department to provide training on security protocols and confidentiality of individual family data to a contractor who is given access to data pursuant to those provisions. By imposing new duties on county welfare departments, this 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 the statutory provisions noted above.