Bill Text: CA AB2058 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: CalWORKs: education incentives.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 6-1)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB2058 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2058-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2058 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mayes
(Principal coauthor: Senator Bates)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow , Chang,
Jones, Lackey, and Mathis)
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
An act to add Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 11340) to
Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to CalWORKs, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2058, as amended, Mayes. CalWORKs: education incentives.
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, state, and county funds. Under existing law, a recipient of
CalWORKs is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities for
a specified number of hours each week as a condition of eligibility
for aid. Existing law authorizes certain welfare-to-work participants
to engage in adult basic education in satisfaction of these work
requirements.
Existing law establishes the Cal-Learn Program, under which a
recipient of CalWORKs aid who is under 19 years of age and who does
not have a high school diploma or its equivalent is required to
participate in the program as a student attending school on a
full-time basis. Existing law provides for a supplement to, or a
reduction in, a Cal-Learn participant's aid grant based on his or her
performance in school.
This bill would create the CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and
Attainment Program to provide CalWORKs recipients with a monthly
education incentive grant of $100 for attainment of a high school
diploma or its equivalent, $200 for attainment of an associate's
degree, degree or career technical education
program, or $300 for attainment of a bachelor's degree, if the
diploma or degree was earned educational
program was completed while the recipient was receiving
CalWORKs assistance. The bill would require the education incentive
grant to be provided on an ongoing basis if the recipient meets
certain eligibility criteria. The bill would require a recipient,
when applying for an education bonus, to submit evidence of
completion of the educational program to the county. The bill would
require the county, upon verification of completion of the
educational program, to certify that the recipient is eligible for an
education incentive grant and ensure that the recipient's monthly
cash grant is increased. By imposing additional administrative duties
on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law establishes the CalWORKs Recipients Education
Program in the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires,
to the extent that funding is provided in the annual Budget Act, a
community college district to receive funding for purposes of
providing special services for CalWORKs recipients, including job
placement and workstudy.
This bill would appropriate $20,000,000 from the General Fund to
the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to fund
services provided under that 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.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) In California's high-skill economy, it is very difficult to
get a good, middle-class job without vocational education or a
college degree, let alone a high school diploma.
(b) This is a significant barrier to socioeconomic mobility for
California's highly vulnerable CalWORKs recipients, because as many
as 65 percent of CalWORKs recipients do not have a high school
education.
(c) Research has consistently shown that postsecondary education
boosts social mobility, particularly for those at the bottom of the
income distribution scale, and that a parent's level of education has
positive effects on his or her child's level of success into middle
adulthood.
(d) California has the seventh-largest
seventh largest federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
cash grant in the nation, and the second largest among the 10
largest states.
(e) Poverty remains a persistent problem.
(f) This act is intended to provide incentives for CalWORKs
recipients to pursue education, thereby improving the opportunities
and outcomes for adults and children in the CalWORKs program.
SEC. 2. Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 11340) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
Article 3.7. CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment
Program
11340. This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment Program.
11341. (a) A CalWORKs recipient may apply to receive an education
incentive grant in the following amounts:
(1) One hundred dollars ($100) per month for completion of a high
school diploma or its equivalent.
(2) Two hundred dollars ($200) per month for completion of an
associate's degree. degree or career technical
education progr am.
(3) Three hundred dollars ($300) per month for completion of a
bachelor's degree.
(b) The amounts listed in subdivision (a) are not cumulative. A
recipient shall receive, on an ongoing basis, the highest monthly
bonus to which he or she is entitled.
(c) The amounts listed in subdivision (a) constitute ongoing
adjustments to the recipient's monthly cash grant.
11342. (a) When applying for an education incentive grant, a
recipient shall submit evidence of completion of the educational
program to the county. A recipient is not eligible unless all of the
following criteria are satisfied:
(1) The recipient completed an educational program included in the
recipient's welfare-to-work plan approved by the county.
(2) The recipient completed an educational program offered by an
accredited educational institution.
(3) The recipient completed the educational program while
receiving CalWORKs assistance.
(b) Upon verification of completion of the educational program,
the county shall certify that the recipient is eligible for an
education incentive grant, grant and
shall ensure that the recipient's monthly cash grant is increased as
prescribed in Section 11341.
11343. (a) A CalWORKs recipient who is receiving an education
incentive grant and then ceases to receive CalWORKs assistance shall
not be eligible for the same education incentive grant if he or she
begins receiving CalWORKs assistance in the future. The recipient is
eligible, however, to receive a different education incentive grant
if he or she attains a higher level of education while receiving
CalWORKs assistance.
(b) A CalWORKs recipient is permanently ineligible for an
education incentive grant under either of the following
circumstances:
(1) The recipient has exhausted his or her CalWORKs benefits.
(2) The recipient has committed public assistance fraud, as
described in Article 7 (commencing with Section 11475.2).
(c) A CalWORKs recipient shall not receive an education incentive
grant in any month during which he or she is sanctioned.
SEC. 3. The sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges to fund services provided under the
CalWORKs Recipients Education Program (Article 5 (commencing with
Section 79200) of Chapter 9 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of
the Education Code), including, but not limited to, education and
career counseling services, employment development services,
including job development staff positions, and workstudy positions.
SEC. 4. 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.
