Bill Text: CA AB2058 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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 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 APRIL 4, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mayes
( Principal coauthor: Senator
Bates )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Bigelow 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. CalWORKs, and
making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2058, as amended, Mayes. CalWORKs Educational
Opportunity and Attainment Program. 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 an
a monthly education bonus, in an
unspecified amount, each month after the attainment of
incentive grant of $100 for attainment of a high school
diploma or its equivalent, $200 for attainment of an
associate's degree, or $300 for attainment of a bachelor's
degree, if the diploma or degree was earned 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 also require the State Department of Social
Services to develop a process for verifying educational achievement.
The bill would establish the CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and
Attainment Support Fund, and would provide that moneys in the fund be
used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support the program.
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: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no yes . Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. 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. (a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment Program.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) California is expected to spend one hundred thirty-six billion
dollars ($136,000,000,000) on health and human services programs in
2016, which is by far the largest state budget expenditure, while
total education spending for kindergarten, grades 1 to 12, inclusive,
and higher education programs is less than seventy billion dollars
($70,000,000,000) per year.
(2) California has the fifth largest Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) cash grant in the nation, and the second
largest amongst the 10 largest states, yet poverty remains a
persistent problem.
(3) We must recognize that California's problems of poverty and
inequality do not stem from a lack of safety net programs.
(4) California needs to invest in programs that elevate people out
of poverty rather than helping people live better in poverty.
(1) In California's high-skill economy, it is very difficult to
get a good, middle-class job without vocational education or a
college degree, let alone a high school diploma.
(2) This is a significant barrier to socioeconomic mobility for
California's highly vulnerable CalWORKs recipients, because as many
as 65 percent of CalWORKs recipients do not have a high school
education.
(3) Research has consistently shown that postsecondary education
boosts social mobility, particularly for those at the bottom of the
income distribution scale, and that a parent's level of education has
positive effects on his or her child's level of success into middle
adulthood.
(4) California has the seventh-largest federal Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families cash grant in the nation, and the
second largest among the 10 largest states.
(5) Poverty remains a persistent problem.
(5)
(6) This act is intended to provide incentives for
CalWORKs recipients to pursue education, thereby improving the
opportunities and outcomes for adults and children in the CalWORKs
program.
11341. (a) A CalWORKs recipient may apply to receive an education
bonus incentive grant in the following
amounts:
(1) ____ dollars ($____) One hundred do
llars ($100) per month for completion of high school
or its equivalent.
(2) ____ dollars ($____) Two
hundred dollars ($200) per month for completion of an associate'
s degree.
(3) ____ dollars ($____) 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 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 bonus,
incentive grant, a recipient shall submit
evidence of completion of the educational program to the county. A
recipient is not eligible unless both 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.
(1)
(2) The recipient graduated from
completed an educational program offered by an accredited
educational institution.
(2)
(3) The recipient attained the diploma or
degree completed the educational program while
receiving CalWORKs assistance.
(b) The State Department of Social Services shall develop a
process for verifying educational achievement.
(b) Upon verification of completion of the educational program,
the county shall certify that the recipient is eligible for an
education incentive grant, and shall ensure that the recipient's
monthly cash grant is increased as prescribed in Section 11341.
11343. The CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment
Support Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury. The moneys
in the fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for
the support of CalWORKs Educational Opportunity and Attainment
Program.
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 all of the following circumstances:
(1) The recipient has exhausted his or her CalWORKs benefits.
(2) The recipient has been sanctioned.
(3) The recipient has committed public assistance fraud, as
described in Article 7 (commencing with Section 11475.2).
SEC. 2. 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. 2. SEC. 3. 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.
