Homeless pupils: California Success, Opportunity, and Academic Resilience (SOAR) Guaranteed Income Program.

(1) Existing law establishes various programs to provide assistance to homeless youth, including, among others, homeless youth emergency service pilot projects and the Runaway Youth and Families in Crisis Project. This bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, would require the State Department of Social Services to establish the California Success, Opportunity, and Academic Resilience (SOAR) Guaranteed Income Program. The program would award public school pupils who are in grade 12 and are homeless children or youths, as defined, a guaranteed income of $1,000 each month for 4 months from May 1, 2025, to August 1, 2025, inclusive, as provided. The bill would establish the California SOAR Guaranteed Income Fund as the initial depository of all moneys appropriated, donated, or otherwise received for the program, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, would provide moneys in the fund to counties that opt in to the program for distribution to eligible participants. (2) Existing federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides grants to states to carry out activities relating to the education of homeless children and youths, as defined, including, among others, providing services and activities to improve the identification of homeless children and youths and to enable them to enroll in and succeed in school. Existing law requires local educational agency liaisons, as defined, to ensure that homeless children and youths are identified by school personnel through outreach and coordination activities, as specified. This bill would require, in counties participating in the California SOAR Guaranteed Income Program, local educational agency liaisons to provide all known eligible participants with program information and enrollment forms, as specified. (3) Existing law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, allows an earned income tax credit, the California Earned Income Tax Credit, against personal income tax. The Personal Income Tax Law also allows, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, a young child tax credit and, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, a foster youth tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law. This bill, for the taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, would exclude from gross income, for purposes of the personal income tax, any amount received as an award pursuant to the California SOAR Guaranteed Income Program. The bill, for the taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, would additionally provide that the amount awarded is not earned income for purposes of eligibility for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, the young child tax credit, or the foster youth tax credit. (4) Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide eligible recipients with certain benefits, including, but not limited to, cash assistance under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, nutrition assistance under the CalFresh program, and health care services under the Medi-Cal program. Under existing law, those programs, among others, are in part federally funded and governed by federal eligibility criteria, including specified income or resource limits. This bill would prohibit any award received by a student through the California SOAR Guaranteed Income Program from being considered income or resources for purposes of determining the student's, or any member of their household's, eligibility for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any state or local means-tested program, including certain public social services programs. The bill would condition implementation of this provision on not conflicting with federal law, or receipt of any necessary federal waivers or exemptions and the availability of any applicable federal financial participation, as specified. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with stakeholders and the Legislature, to identify the CalWORKs, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal programs and any other state program that implements a federal means-tested program and that would require an exemption or waiver. The bill would require a state department or agency that administers a program identified by the State Department of Social Services or by the department or agency itself, to approve an exemption or waiver or to seek one from the federal government. If the state fails to receive the necessary federal exemption or waiver, the bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to consider alternatives to prevent adverse consequences for California SOAR Guaranteed Income Program participants. (5) This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028, except as provided. (6) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include the additional information required for a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.