BILL NUMBER: SB 1084 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Liu FEBRUARY 17, 2010 An act relating to poverty. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1084, as introduced, 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, for a period of two years, the California Economic Security Task Force, composed as prescribed, and appointed in an unspecified manner. The task force would be required to submit to the Governor and the Legislature, and make available to the public, both an interim and a final report on measures needed to reduce poverty in the state by 50% by 2020. 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. (a) There is hereby established the California Economic Security Task Force. (b) The task force shall consist of the following 25 members, or their designees: (1) Three members of the Senate, at least one of whom must be a member of the minority party, appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate. (2) Three members of the Assembly, at least one of whom must be a member of the minority party, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. (3) The Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing. (4) The Director of the California Department of Aging. (5) The Secretary of California Health and Human Services. (6) The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (7) The Director of Housing and Community Development. (8) The Director of Finance. (9) The Director of Mental Health. (10) The State Public Health Officer. (11) The Director of Social Services. (12) Five individuals who represent stakeholders that provide benefits, services, or advocacy to people living in poverty, including, but not limited to, antipoverty groups, women's organizations, labor organizations, philanthropic interests, and county agencies, appointed by ____. (13) Five individuals who live in poverty, with at least one representative from a rural, one from a suburban, and one from an urban area, appointed by ____. (c) The task force shall hold its first meeting not later than ____ 2011. The task force shall meet at least quarterly, at a time and location convenient as the task force deems appropriate and convenient to the public. All meetings of the task force shall be open to the public. (d) The task force may create subcommittees composed of task force members, experts, state and county agency representatives, and other stakeholders, to provide advice on any function of the task force, or the assessments, programs, and policies it may develop and recommend. A subcommittee may gather information and make recommendations to the task force. A subcommittee shall not exercise any of the powers vested in the task force. (e) The task force shall seek input from other outside groups, organizations, and individuals, and consider the actions and recommendations of other states' poverty reduction plans, as it deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, consulting or referencing the following: (1) Businesses. (2) People living below the poverty line according to either the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index or the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index. (3) The Colorado Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. (4) Community-based and institutional providers of programs that move Californians toward economic security. (5) The Connecticut Child Poverty and Prevention Council. (6) Labor groups. (7) The Louisiana Child Poverty Prevention Council. (8) State agency staff responsible for social services, job training, housing, transportation, asset development, tax, education, or child welfare programs. (9) Local and statewide workforce investment boards. (f) The task force shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature, and make available to the public, an interim and a final report on measures needed to reduce poverty in the state by 50 percent by 2020, that meets, at least, the following requirements: (1) The interim and the final reports shall do both of the following: (A) Review in detail current rates of economic security. For purposes of this subparagraph, "economic security" means having the income necessary to cover basic needs expenses, among Californians at the family and county level, using both the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard Index and the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index. (B) Inventory state programs targeted at increasing individual and family economic security and reducing poverty. (2) The interim report shall provide specific recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of state programs and services for both the immediate and short-term timeframes, that may be implemented beginning in 2012. (3) The final report shall do all of the following: (A) Provide actionable, specific, and long-term recommendations that will increase the effectiveness of the state's efforts to increase family economic security by reducing poverty in the state by 50 percent by 2020. The recommendations shall be politically viable, fiscally responsible, 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 specific recommendations on how to create a self-sustaining entity to lead and coordinate the state's efforts to reduce poverty in the state by 50 percent in 2020, including, but not limited to, the following recommendations: (i) The appropriate structure of the entity. (ii) The needed funding for the efforts. (iii) The necessary statutory changes to create the entity. (C) Provide the following information about each state antipoverty program, including, but not limited to: (i) The budget 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) Other state and local government entities involved in planning and administering the program. (g) Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for their task force expenses, if the task force has sufficient funding for this purpose. (h) The task force shall seek funding, technical assistance, 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. (i) The task force may be supported in its work by the legislative staff and services as determined by the respective rules committees. (j) The task force shall cease to exist two years after the date of its first meeting.