Bill Text: CA AB1070 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: CalWORKs Home Visiting Initiative.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2020-02-03 - Died at Desk. [AB1070 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB1070-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 1070 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Arambula |
February 21, 2019 |
An act relating to CalWORKs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1070, as introduced, Arambula.
CalWORKs Home Visiting Initiative.
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 establishes the CalWORKs Home Visiting Initiative as a voluntary program for the purpose of supporting positive health, development, and well-being outcomes for eligible pregnant and parenting women, families, and infants born into poverty. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to award funds to participating counties in order to provide voluntary evidence-based home visiting services to any assistance unit that meets specified requirements. Existing law provides that a voluntary participant in the program is either a member of a CalWORKs assistance unit or the parent or caretaker for a child-only case, and requires the participant to
be pregnant with no other children at the time of enrollment or a first-time parent or caretaker relative of a child less than 24 months of age at the time of enrollment.
This bill would state in the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would expand eligibility for the CalWORKs Home Visiting Initiative to all parents served through the CalWORKs program and applicants deemed apparently eligible for CalWORKs.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) Voluntary home visiting programs are a proven strategy for promoting child health, strengthening parenting, and building family self-sufficiency.
(b) Planned visits by trained professionals provide pregnant mothers and new parents with a range of supports to meet the family’s needs, including promoting preventive health and prenatal practices, coaching parents on how best to care for their babies and support their early learning, and connecting families to available services.
(c) Research shows high-quality home visiting programs produce significant
benefits for both the child and parents, including better maternal and child health outcomes, reduced child abuse and neglect, and improved quality of parent-child interactions.
(d) Voluntary home visiting programs do not only improve the health and well-being of young children and their families, but they also improve family economic security and reduce the length of time families spend in poverty.
(e) Increasing parental education attainment, employment, and incomes is estimated to yield up to five dollars and seventy cents ($5.70) for each dollar invested in the program.
