Asm. Joaquin Arambula

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with an appropriate and qualified entity to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of the current child welfare services budgeting methodology and make recommendations for revising the budgeting methodology, including appropriate caseload levels, supportive services, and preventative services, in order to accurately and adequately fund the system. This bill would require, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, the department to provide incentive payments to counties that meet the child welfare services targeted workload ratio recommendations included in that evaluation. The bill would explicitly require the incentive payments to be separate from, and in addition to, funds allocated to counties for child welfare services from the Local Revenue Fund 2011.

Under existing law, every child adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court is entitled to participate in age-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities. Existing law requires a short-term residential therapeutic program or a group home administrator, a facility manager, or their responsible designee, and a caregiver, to use a reasonable and prudent parent standard in determining whether to give permission for a child residing in foster care to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities. This bill would establish the California Foster Youth Enrichment Grant Pilot Program, to be administered by the State Department of Social Services. The bill would require the department to develop an application for the program and to solicit applications from foster youth. The bill would authorize foster youth to use grant money to participate in various activities to enhance their skills, abilities, self-esteem, or overall well-being. The bill would make those provisions operative upon appropriation by the Legislature.

Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties with respect to job creation activities. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to administer the Online Jobs and Economic Support Resource Grant Program, which the bill would create for the purpose of funding inclusive, cross-jurisdictional, and innovative online platforms that support employment and earnings opportunities. The bill would specify the goals of the program, which would include reducing digital infrastructure gaps in employment and training services for individuals who face barriers to employment. The bill would also require the department, before awarding grants under these provisions, to develop and adopt guidelines and policies for the program, including a competitive award process with funding only awarded to applicants meeting specified requirements and conditions. These conditions would include the grant applicant having demonstrated experience serving underresourced populations and individuals with employment barriers. The bill would require each grant recipient, as a condition of receiving funds, to submit an annual report to the department on the use of grant funds, including aggregate demographic data and other information related to implementation of the grant. The bill would create the Online Jobs Training Fund in the State Treasury and would require moneys in that fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support the grant program. The bill would authorize the department, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to make grants to qualified applicants pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also require the department to post notice of the appropriation on the home page of its internet website and to send notice to specified legislative officials for distribution to certain legislative committees.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and requires the department to administer various public social services programs, including the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and various child welfare services. Existing law employs social workers in different aspects of those public social services programs, such as dependency proceedings and in-home support services, among others, and requires specialized training. This bill would, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, require the State Department of Social Services to establish a pilot program to develop a mentorship program to match social workers with at least 10 years in the profession with social workers who have graduated within 6 years, who are transitioning from one field of practice to another, or who have moved to a new geographical area of work.

Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that public higher education in California strive to provide educationally equitable environments that give each Californian, regardless of age, economic circumstance, or certain specified characteristics, including mental disability, a reasonable opportunity to develop fully their potential. This bill, subject to an appropriation for its purposes, would require the California State University, and request the University of California, to establish pilot programs to establish and maintain inclusive college programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at 4-year public postsecondary educational institutions, as provided.

Existing federal law establishes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law establishes a statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system, administered by the State Department of Social Services, for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits, including CalFresh benefits. Existing law establishes the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project and requires the department, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture and specified stakeholders, to include within the EBT system a supplemental benefits mechanism that allows an authorized retailer to deliver and redeem supplemental benefits. Existing law defines the term "supplemental benefits" for these purposes to mean additional funds delivered to a CalFresh recipient's EBT card upon purchase of California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables using CalFresh benefits. Existing law requires the department, upon the deposit of sufficient moneys into the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Grant Fund, and upon the appropriation of moneys from the fund by the Legislature for this purpose, to provide a minimum of 3 grants to nonprofit organizations or governmental agencies for pilot projects to implement and test the supplemental benefits mechanism, as specified. This bill would establish the California Fruit and Vegetable Supplemental Benefits Expansion Program and create the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Expansion Fund in the State Treasury. The program would include a process and guidelines for the State Department of Social Services to, upon the deposit of sufficient moneys in the fund, enroll authorized retailers to enable those authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits to CalFresh recipients who purchase California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. The bill would authorize the department to initially allocate from any appropriation made for the purposes of the program, $140,000,000 for large authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits, $40,000,000 for small authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits, and $60,000,000 for direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits. The bill would also require the department to provide grants to small authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to offset the cost of technological upgrades required to offer supplemental benefits and would authorize the department to allocate up to $1,000,000 from any appropriation made for the purposes of the program to provide those grants. The bill would authorize the department, 6 months or later after the enrollment of authorized retailers as a result the first round of application solicitation, to reallocate those funds. The bill would require supplemental benefits to be provided using the EBT system supplemental benefits mechanism established for purposes of the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project. The bill would also require the department, as part of the program, to contract with one or more vendors to develop at least 2 technology solutions that allow authorized retailers to wirelessly accept EBT CalFresh benefits and offer supplemental benefits, to develop marketing materials that authorized retailers that have been enrolled in the program and community groups can use for outreach efforts to promote supplemental benefits, and to submit specified reports to the Legislature. The bill would require, if the department fails to submit one of the reports, if the report recommends stopping further expansion of supplemental benefits programs, or if supplemental benefits are not distributed pursuant to the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project, all unencumbered state funds in the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Expansion Fund to revert to the General Fund. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a process to conduct periodic audits of enrolled authorized retailers to verify that supplemental benefits are only being earned when a CalFresh recipient purchases California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. The bill would also require the Department of Food and Agriculture to develop a grant program to award funds to nonprofit organizations to recruit, train, and support authorized retailers participating in supplemental benefit programs. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to seek any necessary federal waivers or approvals to implement these provisions.

This measure would respectfully memorialize the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States to take action to restore honor to Bernard B. James, and to take the necessary actions to ensure the treatment of Bernard B. James is rectified by a full exoneration, including having the military record of Bernard B. James cleared of any court judgment and less-than-honorable discharge.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate Highway Route 405 in the County of Los Angeles as the Officer Tommy Scott Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.