CalWORKs program.

Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states, with California's version of this program being known as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Under the CalWORKs program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals who meet specified eligibility criteria, including limitations on income and assets generally applicable to public assistance programs. Existing law establishes maximum aid amounts for CalWORKs recipients, with adjustments for cost-of-living, as specified. Under existing law, operative as specified, a parent or caretaker relative is not eligible for CalWORKs aid after he or she has received CalWORKs aid or TANF aid from any state, for a cumulative total of 48 months. However, months during which certain conditions exist are not counted toward a recipient's 48-month aid limit. Under existing law, with certain exceptions, every individual, as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, is required to participate in welfare-to-work activities. This bill would restructure, revise, and recast various aspects of the law relating to the CalWORKs program, beginning on the later of the first day of the first month following 90 days after the effective date of the bill, or October 1, 2012. The bill would create 3 separate categories of aid under the program. The CalWORKs Basic Program would provide up to 24 months of welfare-to-work and supportive services to eligible families. The CalWORKs Plus Program would provide for a higher grant level for recipients meeting federal work participation requirements. The Child Maintenance Program would apply to an assistance unit that does not include an eligible adult, and would provide specified aid, including cash aid, and an annual well-child medical exam, to the assistance unit. The bill would specify the eligibility requirements and time limits for each aid category. This bill would decrease the amount of CalWORKs maximum aid payments, and would establish maximum aid payment schedules for CalWORKs Basic, CalWORKs Plus, and the Child Maintenance Program. The bill also would revise the schedules pursuant to which an assistance unit's earned income would be exempted for purposes of calculating family income in determining the appropriate maximum aid payment. This bill would eliminate the existing Cal-Learn Program, which is currently suspended under existing law, and would provide instead for a welfare-to-work teen parent program, which would require cash supplements to be paid to the assistance unit of which the teen parent is a member, when the teen parent maintains satisfactory progress in school and satisfactorily completes high school or a California high school equivalency examination. This bill would include within the cumulative 48-month time limit for aid all months of aid received from January 1, 1998, to the operative date of the bill. This bill also would make numerous technical, nonsubstantive, and conforming changes. This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement and administer the bill through all-county letters or similar instructions from the director until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department to adopt emergency regulations implementing its provisions no later than July 1, 2014. By imposing new duties on counties in connection with the administration of the CalWORKs program, and by expanding certain circumstances under which an assistance unit would be required to submit documentation signed under penalty of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.