Bill Text: CA SB1084 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California Economic Security Task Force.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-08-13 - Set, second hearing. Held in committee and under submission. [SB1084 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB1084-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1084 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 2, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 24, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 29, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 15, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 23, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Senator Liu (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Jones) (Coauthors: Assembly MembersV. Manuel Perez,Salas,and BlockBeall, Block, Hall, V. Manuel Perez, and Salas ) FEBRUARY 17, 2010 An act relating to poverty. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1084, as amended, Liu. California Economic Security Task Force. Existing law establishes various social service programs that provide cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. This bill would establish, upon a specified finding by the Department of Finance regarding funding, until July 1, 2013, the California Economic Security Task Force, composed and appointed as prescribed. This bill would require the task force to hold its first meeting before July 1, 2011. The task force would be required to submit to the Governorand, to relevant Committees of the Legislature, and make available to the public, both an interim and a final report containing specified information and recommendations. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Economic Security Act of 2010. SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) According to the California Budget Project, more than 5.3 million, or 14.6 percent, Californians had incomes below the federal poverty line in 2008, a significant increase from 4.6 million, or 12.7 percent, in 2007. Furthermore, California's 2008 poverty rate was 1.4 percentage points higher than the national rate. (b) According to the report entitled "Overlooked and Undercounted 2009: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in California," three in 10 nonelderly California households lack enough income to meet their basic needs expenses. (c) According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, nearly 495,000 elders living alone in California in 2007 could not cover their basic needs expenses. (d) It is a goal of the Legislature to move 50 percent of Californians with income below the federal poverty line towards economic security by 2020 by moving them toward or above the county- and family-specific thresholds of the income necessary to cover basic needs expenses, provided by the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index. SEC. 3. (a) Upon a positive determination as described in subdivision (j), there is hereby established the California Economic Security Task Force. (b) The task force shall consist of the following 13 members: (1) Two Members of the Senate, or their designees, at least one of whom must be a member of the minority party, appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. (2) Two Members of the Assembly, or their designees, at least one of whom must be a member of the minority party, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. (3) A representative from the County Welfare Directors Association. (4) Two individuals who represent business interests operating in this state, one of whom shall represent large business and be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and one of whom shall represent small business and be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. (5) Four individuals who represent nongovernment entities that provide benefits, services, or advocacy to people, including women, children, youth, seniors, working families, and the homeless, living in poverty, appointed by the Governor. (6) Two individualswho have household incomes below the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index or the Elder Economic Security Standard Index, one of whom shall represent a rural area and be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and one of whom shall represent an urban area and be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. One of these individuals shall have a household income below the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index, and the other individual shall have a household income below the Elder Economic Security Standard Index. (c) The task force shall be cochaired by a member of the small business community and a representative of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. (d) The Secretary of California Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, or designated representatives, may participate in the task force as nonvoting members. (e) Upon a positive determination as described in subdivision (j), all appointments shall be made and the task force shall hold its first meeting before July 1, 2011. The task force shall meet at least quarterly, at a time and location the task force deems appropriate and convenient to the public. All meetings of the task force shall be open to the public. (f) A majority of the currently serving task force members shall constitute a quorum. The task force may meet in the absence of a quorum. The task force shall strive to operate by consensus, but may adopt recommendations by majority vote of the members present in any meeting that a quorum is present. (g) The task force shall submit to the Governor andthe Legislaturerelevant committees of the Legislature, including, but not limited to, the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development, the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, and the Senate and Assembly Committees on Human Services , and make available to the public, an interim report on or before April 1, 2012, and a final report on or before April 1, 2013. The interim and final reports shall be prepared solely with private funds and shall make use of existing data. In order to keep costs down, state agencies and departments shall, to the extent that the information is available, make reports and data electronically available. (1) As part of its deliberations in preparing the interim and final reports, the task force shall do both of the following: (A) Review in detail current rates of economic security for each county in California. For purposes of this act, "economic security" means having the income necessary to cover basic needs expenses, among Californians at the family and county level, as defined by the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index. The California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index provide a county- and family-specific threshold of the income necessary to cover basic needs expenses. (B) Seek input from other outside groups, organizations, and individuals. (C) Consider the actions and recommendations of other states' plans relating to poverty reduction workforce development and entrepreneurship, as it deems appropriate. (2) The interim report shall do all of the following: (A) Provide specific recommendations that could be implemented beginning in 2012 to maximize the effectiveness of state programs and services for both the immediate and short-term timeframes, to help increase the economic security of all Californians by moving 50 percent of Californians with incomes below the federal poverty level toward or above the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index thresholds by 2020. The recommendations shall include an implementation plan with key milestones, and an estimate of program costs or savings and of the number of individuals who would benefit from the proposal. (B) Provide an inventory ofstateprograms targeted at increasing individual and family economic security and reducing poverty. The following information shall be provided for eachstateprogram, including, but not limited to: (i) The budget and funding sources for the program. (ii) The program's eligibility criteria and process. (iii) The number and demographic profile of clients served by the program. (iv) Services the program offers. (v) Otherstate and local governmententities involved in planning and administering the program. (vi) The linkages among the poverty reduction, self-sufficiency programs, workforce development, and entrepreneurship programs , such as an on-the-job training program developed by a local workforce investment board for recipients of welfare-t o-work employment services under the CalWORKs program . (vii) The metrics and methodology used by each program to collect data and to establish and measure baselines and outcomes. (3) The final report shall do all of the following: (A) Provide specific long-term recommendations that will increase the effectiveness of the state's efforts to increase economic security of all Californians by moving 50 percent of Californians with incomes below the federal poverty level toward or above the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index thresholds by 2020. The recommendations shall be politically viable, fiscally responsible, shall include an implementation plan with key milestones, an estimated impact of regional economies, and an estimate of program costs or savings and of the number of individuals who would benefit from the proposal. (B) Provide specific recommendations on how to create a self-sustaining entity to lead and coordinate the state's efforts to increase economic security of Californians by moving 50 percent of Californians with incomes below the federal poverty line to cover basic needs and expenses, as identified in the Self-Sufficiency Standard or the Elder Economic Security Standard Index by 2020, including, but not limited to, the following recommendations: (i) The appropriate structure of the entity. (ii) The needed funding and funding sources for the entity. (iii) The necessary statutory changes to create the entity. (h) Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for their actual travel costs to attend meetings, if the task force has sufficient funding for this purpose. (i) The task force shall seek funding, technical assistance, staff support, and other resources from philanthropic and private donations, but shall not accept any support that would pose a conflict of interest or be inconsistent with the task force's goals and objectives. (j) The task force shall be established in the executive branch and shall convene only upon a determination by the Department of Finance that private donations in an amount sufficient to fully support the activities of the task force have been deposited with the state. (k) This act shall remain in effect only until July 1, 2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is chaptered before July 1, 2013, deletes or extends that date.