Bill Text: CA SB298 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 298 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Poverty reduction.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-08-30 - August 30 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB298 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB298-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate March 27, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 298

Introduced by Senator Caballero
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Burke)

February 14, 2019

An act to add ~~Section 20057 to, and to repeal Section 20060 of,~~ Division 11 (commencing with Section 20050) to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to poverty reduction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 298, as amended, Caballero. Poverty reduction.

Existing law establishes the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force, for the purpose of submitting a report to the Legislature and the executive branch that recommends future comprehensive strategies to achieve the reduction of deep poverty among children and reduce the overall child poverty rate in the state. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to invite and convene the task force and to assist the task force in carrying out its duties. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2020.

This bill would ~~extend the operation of those provisions indefinitely and~~ require the State Department of Social Services, commencing in 2020 and every 2 years thereafter, to conduct an analysis and submit a report to the Legislature with specified information, including, among ~~others,~~ other things, a compilation of recommendations made by the task force that have been implemented and an estimate of the impact on child poverty and deep child poverty the implemented recommendations have had.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES 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 End Child Poverty Act of 2020.

SECTION 1.SEC. 2.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) California has the highest number of children and the highest percentage of children living in poverty of any state in the nation. According to California Poverty Measure 2016 estimates, 19.4 percent of all Californians and 21.3 percent of California’s children live in poverty while 5.5 percent of all Californians and 4.8 percent of California’s children live in deep poverty.

(2) The Legislature and Governor have taken substantial steps to address California’s poverty rate in recent years, by, for example, increasing CalWORKs grants, raising the minimum wage, and establishing a home visiting program for first-time parents in CalWORKs. However, much remains to be done to break the multigenerational cycle of poverty in this state.

(3) In recognition of this challenge, California enacted Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017 (Chapter 415), which called for the development of comprehensive strategies aimed at reducing child poverty in California, and established the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force (Task Force) to accomplish this task. The Task Force further defined its goals as ending deep child poverty as soon as possible and reducing overall child poverty by 50 percent.

(4) In November 2018, the Task Force released its ~~report that~~ report, which contains a road map for achieving the goals established in Chapter 415 through a series of specific recommendations aimed at both immediately addressing deep poverty and breaking the multigenerational cycle of poverty.

(5) The Task Force also included recommendations for effectively monitoring progress toward meeting the goals of Chapter 415 through development of specific benchmarks and administrative panel data containing various economic and related indicators.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to ~~fulfill~~ commit to achieving the poverty-reduction goals of Chapter 415, and that California maintain an effective system for measuring progress toward meeting specific goals of eliminating the number of children in deep poverty by 2024 and reducing child poverty by 50 percent by 2039, using the benchmarks and administrative panel data systems recommended by the Task Force.

SEC. 2.Section 20057 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
20057.
~~(a)(1)Commencing in 2020, and every two years thereafter, the State Department of Social Services shall conduct an analysis and report to the Legislature the following information:~~
~~(A)The current California child poverty rate, as measured by both the official poverty measure and the California poverty measure, and recent trends in the poverty rates.~~
~~(B)A compilation of recommendations made by the task force, or variations of the recommendations, that have been enacted since 2018.~~
(C)An estimate of the impact that enacted task force recommendations, as well as other state antipoverty programs, have had on the child poverty rate and deep child poverty rate in California.
~~(D)An estimate of the progress that California is making toward eliminating deep child poverty by 2024 and reducing child poverty by 50 percent by 2039.~~
~~(E)Additional investments or modifications to existing programs that are needed, if any, to meet the poverty reduction goals identified in subparagraph (D).~~
~~(2)A report submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.~~
(b)In evaluating the progress that California is making toward the poverty reduction goals established by Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017 and adopted by the task force, the department shall develop a methodology that uses, to the extent available, benchmarks and data identified by the task force, as well as other childhood indicators that peer-reviewed studies have shown to be predictive of future adult poverty and, accordingly, next-generation child poverty rates. These indicators may include, but are not limited to, incidence of low birth weights, school test scores, grades, high school graduation rates, juvenile arrest rates, and incidence of reported mistreatment of children.
~~(c)For the purposes of this section, “task force” means the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force established pursuant to Section 20055.~~
SEC. 3.Section 20060 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is repealed.

SEC. 3.

Division 11 (commencing with Section 20050) is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

DIVISION 11. Poverty Reduction
20050.
(a) (1) Commencing in 2020, and every two years thereafter, the State Department of Social Services shall conduct an analysis and report to the Legislature the following information:
(A) The current California child poverty rate, as measured by both the official poverty measure and the California poverty measure, and recent trends in the poverty rates.
(B) A compilation of recommendations made by the task force, or variations of the recommendations, that have been enacted since 2018.
(C) An estimate of the impact that enacted task force recommendations, as well as all other state programs and policies that impact child poverty, including, but not limited to, antipoverty, housing, health care, workforce training, juvenile justice, and foster care programs, have had on the child poverty rate and deep child poverty rate in California.
(D) An estimate of the progress that California is making toward eliminating deep child poverty by 2024 and reducing child poverty by 50 percent by 2039.
(E) Additional investments or modifications to existing programs that are needed, if any, to meet the state commitment to poverty reduction identified in subparagraph (D).
(2) In conducting an analysis and report pursuant to paragraph (1), the department shall, to the extent it is available, utilize existing data, calculations, and analyses.
(3) A report submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(b) In evaluating the progress that California is making toward the poverty reduction commitment established by Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017 and adopted by the task force, the department shall develop a methodology that uses, to the extent available, benchmarks and data identified by the task force, as well as other childhood indicators that peer-reviewed studies have shown to be predictive of future adult poverty and, accordingly, next-generation child poverty rates. These indicators may include, but are not limited to, incidence of low birth weights, school test scores, grades, high school graduation rates, juvenile arrest rates, and incidence of reported mistreatment of children.
(c) For the purposes of this section, “task force” means the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force established pursuant to Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017.