SB 262

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and requires the department to administer various public social services programs, including 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, and the CalFresh program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, to administer the California Farmworkers Drought and Flood Resilience Pilot Project to provide supplemental pay in the form of cash assistance for eligible households to help meet their basic needs. The bill would define eligible household to mean a household in which one member of the household is a farmworker, as specified, and would define supplemental pay to mean unconditional cash payments of equal amounts issued monthly to eligible households with the intention of ensuring the economic security of those households. The bill would require the department to implement the pilot project by awarding grants to eligible entities, as defined, for the purpose of issuing the supplemental pay, and would require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to determine the methodology for, and manner of, distributing those grants. The bill would require an eligible entity, in order to receive a grant, to, among other things, present commitments of additional nongovernmental funding to supplement the grant in an amount equal to or greater than 50% of the amount of funding to be provided to the entity from the grant pursuant to the pilot project. The bill would prohibit supplemental pay received by an eligible household from being considered income or resources for purposes of determining the household's eligibility for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any state or local means-tested program. The bill would require the department, in consultation with stakeholders, and after consultation with the Legislature, to identify federal benefit and assistance programs that require an exemption or waiver in order for supplemental pay received by an eligible household pursuant to the pilot project to be excluded from consideration as income or resources for purposes of the federal program. The bill would require a state department or agency that administers a program identified by the State Department of Social Services to, if possible, approve an exemption or waiver or seek one from the federal government. The bill would require the department to work with at least one independent, research-based institution to identify existing, and establish additional, outcome measurements, and to submit a specified report relating to the pilot project to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2027. The bill would authorize the department to accept and expend funds from nongovernmental sources for the pilot project, as specified, and would authorize the department to accept in-kind contributions, including, but not limited to, financial mentorship services for households that receive supplemental pay pursuant to the pilot project. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the pilot project by means of a departmental directive or similar instruction. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income at specified rates. Existing law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded. The bill would exclude from gross income, for purposes of the personal income tax, any supplemental pay received by a household pursuant to the pilot project described above. (3) This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028. (4) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure or tax exemption to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to apply those requirements to the bill and would set forth specified information related to those requirements.