AB 161 — Human services.

Summary

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Child Support Services within the California Health and Human Services Agency, which administers all services and performs all functions necessary to establish, collect, and distribute child support. Prior state law required the department to procure, develop, implement, and maintain a single statewide automated child support system referred to as the California Child Support Automation System. Existing law requires the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Department of Child Support Services to jointly produce an annual report, to be submitted on March 1, to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the ongoing implementation of the California Child Support Automation System, as specified. This bill would delete this reporting requirement. (2) Under existing law, the parents of a minor child are responsible for supporting the child. Existing law requires each county to maintain a local child support agency that is responsible for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations, including medical support, enforcing spousal support orders, and determining paternity, as specified. Existing law establishes within the state's child support program a quality assurance and performance improvement program. Existing law provides that the 10 counties with the best performance standards shall receive an additional 5% of the state's share of those counties' collections that are used to reduce or repay aid that is paid under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Existing law requires these additional funds received by a county to be used for specified child support-related activities. Existing law suspends the payment of this additional 5% for the 2002–03 to 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive. This bill would repeal the provision that provides additional funds to the 10 counties with the best performance standards and the suspension for the 2002–03 to 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive. (3) Existing federal law provides for the 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 requires the department to also establish the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to provide nutrition benefits to households that are ineligible for CalFresh benefits solely due to their immigration status, as specified. Existing law requires that CFAP benefits be equivalent to SNAP benefits. Existing law requires that current and future CalFresh benefits be reduced in order to recover an overissuance caused by intentional program violation, fraud, or inadvertent household error. Existing law sets forth certain procedures and criteria for a county when establishing a claim for recovery of that overissuance of CalFresh benefits. This bill would require the state to retain a portion of any collected overissuance claims on CFAP benefits, with that portion being the same percentage as the state and the United States Department of Agriculture would have retained, combined, if the overissuance claims had been collected under the CalFresh program. Under the bill, any remaining portion of the recovered overissuance claims would be distributed by the department to the counties based on the amount of the overissuance claims recovered by the counties. The bill would make these provisions operative when related provisions become operative on the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation to implement the expansion of CFAP eligibility to individuals 55 years of age or older. To the extent that the bill would create new duties for counties relating to the procedures for CFAP overissuance claims, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a recipient of CFAP benefits who is also receiving CalWORKs aid to satisfactorily participate in welfare-to-work activities, as specified, or if the recipient is not receiving CalWORKs aid, to meet specified work requirements under SNAP. Existing law, to become operative on the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System has been updated to perform the necessary automation, instead prohibits a recipient of CFAP benefits from being required to meet the SNAP work requirement. This bill would repeal work requirements for a CFAP recipient. To the extent this bill would expand eligibility for CFAP, which is administered by the counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would, commencing the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) has been updated to perform the necessary automation, also prohibit a recipient of CFAP benefits from being required meet SNAP disqualification requirements. Existing federal law establishes the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) , under which United States Department of Agriculture foods are provided to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations, and to American Indian households residing in approved areas near reservations, as an alternative to SNAP benefits. Existing law establishes the Tribal Nutrition Assistance Program, administered by the State Department of Social Services, with the intent to provide supplemental nutrition benefits to households that are ineligible for CalFresh benefits solely because they receive food through the FDPIR when their FDPIR benefits are less than those provided by CalFresh. Subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, existing law requires the department to award grants to eligible tribes and tribal organizations to address food insecurity and inequities between CalFresh benefits and FDPIR. This bill would delete the above-described program intent and would instead require the department, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to award grants to eligible tribes and tribal organizations to address food insecurity and inequities within California. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, requires the State Department of Social Services to create the Safe Drinking Water Supplemental Benefit Pilot Program to provide time-limited additional CalFresh nutrition benefits to residents of prioritized disadvantaged communities that are served by public water systems that consistently fail to meet primary drinking water standards. The bill would instead make the above provisions inoperative upon the expiration of allocated funding for the pilot program or September 30, 2025, whichever is later. (4) Existing law establishes the CalWORKs program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities, including subsidized employment, as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, to develop an allocation methodology to distribute additional funding for expanded subsidized employment programs for CalWORKs recipients, as specified, and requires a county that accepts funding from this allocation to, among other things, submit to the department a plan regarding how it intends to utilize the allocated funding. This bill would instead require a participating county, beginning January 1, 2025, or 4 months after the department issues guidance, as specified, whichever is later, to submit to the department, at least once every 2 years, a plan or an amendment to a plan that specifies how the county intends to utilize the allocated funding and to prioritize subsidized employment placements that offer opportunities for participants to obtain skills and experiences in their fields of interest. The bill would also require counties to submit a confirmation of no change if the county has no changes to an existing plan or amendment. The bill would also require the department, beginning April 1, 2025, to include specified information related to the subsidized employment programs described above in the CalWORKs Annual Summary. Existing law establishes maximum aid grant amounts to be provided to each family receiving aid under CalWORKs. Existing law, commencing on October 1, 2023, increases the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2023, by 3.6%. This bill would, commencing on October 1, 2024, increase the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2024, by 0.3%. Because moneys from the General Fund are continuously appropriated to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program, this bill would make an appropriation for the maximum aid payment increases. Existing law states legislative intent to increase CalWORKs maximum aid payments until the maximum aid payment levels reach 50% of the federal poverty level for the family size that is one greater than the assistance unit, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to annually provide a display in writing to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, and on the department's internet website, showing the CalWORKs maximum aid payment amounts compared to 50% of the federal poverty level for the family size that is one greater than the assistance unit. This bill would instead require the written display described above to show the CalWORKs maximum aid payment amounts compared to the federal poverty level for the family size that is one greater than the assistance unit. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to work with representatives of county human services agencies and the County Welfare Directors Association of California to develop recommendations for revising the methodology used for development of the CalWORKs single allocation annual budget, as well as to update the budgeting methodology used to determine the annual funding for county administration of the CalFresh program. Under existing law, the number of hours per case per month of case work time budgeted for intensive cases under the employment services component of the CalWORKs single allocation is incrementally increased, as specified, and is 10 hours for the 2024–25 fiscal year, subject to a specified appropriation. Effective July 1, 2024, this bill would maintain the number of hours per case per month of case work time budgeted for intensive cases at a minimum of 8.75 hours and, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, would increase those hours to no more than 10 hours per case per month. The bill would require the department to consult with legislative staff, representatives of county human services agencies and the County Welfare Directors Association of California, advocate representatives, and labor organizations to implement provisions relating to budgeting for the CalWORKs single allocation and county administration of the CalFresh program. (5) Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with county child welfare agencies, foster parent associations, and other interested community parties, to implement a unified, family friendly, and child-centered resource family approval process. Existing law requires the resource family approval process to include, among other things, a home environment assessment, a permanency assessment, and a written report, as specified. For specified emergency placements, existing law requires the home environment assessment and written report to be completed within 90 days of a child's placement, unless good cause exists. For placements made for compelling reasons prior to the completion of a permanency assessment, existing law requires the home assessment and written report to be completed within 90 days of placement, unless good cause exists. For specified placements with a relative or nonrelative extended family member, existing law requires the home environment assessment, permanency assessment, and written report to be completed within 90 days of placement, unless good cause exists. Existing law also requires counties to provide the department with quarterly reports on the number of families for whom certain requirements have not been completed by the 90-day deadline and to summarize the reasons for these delays. This bill would instead extend the deadline by which these requirements must be completed to 120 days. (6) Existing law provides for the temporary or emergency placement of dependent children of the juvenile court and nonminor dependents with relative caregivers or nonrelative extended family members under specified circumstances. Existing law requires counties to provide a specified payment to an emergency caregiver if, among other things, the emergency caregiver has completed an application for resource family approval and an application for the Emergency Assistance Program. Existing law requires that these payments be made through Emergency Assistance Program funds included in the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, with the county solely responsible for the nonfederal share of cost, except as specified. Under existing law, during the 2022–23 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, these payments are ineligible for the federal or state share of payment upon approval or denial of the resource family application or beyond 120 days, whichever occurs first. Existing law makes the federal and state share available beyond 120 days of payments, and up to 365 days of payments, if certain conditions are met by the county, including, among others, providing the department with a monthly list of the resource family applications that have been pending for more than 90 days, as specified. This bill would instead require the county to provide a monthly list of resource family applications that have been pending for more than 120 days. (7) Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care, administered by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law establishes a schedule of basic rates to be paid for the care and supervision of each foster child. Existing law authorizes a county to have a ratesetting system for specialized care to pay for the additional care and supervision needed to address the behavioral, emotional, and physical requirements of foster children. Existing law requires, upon a tribe's request, the department to enter into an agreement with a tribe regarding the care and custody of Indian children, as specified. Under existing law, a tribe that is party to an agreement under these provisions is eligible to receive allocations of child welfare service funds, as specified. Existing law requires the agreement to ensure that a tribe claims and uses all eligible federal funding available under Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act. This bill would authorize a tribe that has entered into an agreement, as described above, to have a ratesetting system for specialized care. The bill would update a cross-reference to the methodology used to adjust the specialized care increment. This bill would also establish a new, Tiered Rate Structure, as specified, upon which the per child per month rate for every child in foster care would be based. The Tiered Rate Structure would be based on the use of the Integrated Practice-Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (IP-CANS) assessment tool, as defined. The Tiered Rate Structure would include 3 components, including an amount paid to the foster care provider for care and supervision of the child, as defined, a strengths building allocation to provide for a child's strengths building objectives, as identified by the IP-CANS, and an immediate needs allocation to provide for the child's immediate needs, and would establish 3 payment tiers, as specified. The bill would require the 3 components of the Tiered Rate Structure to become operative on July 1, 2027, or the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation to implement the Tiered Rate Structure, whichever is later. The bill would prescribe various duties of county placing agencies relating to the implementation of the Tiered Rate Structure, including, but not limited to, ensuring completion of IP-CANS assessments for every child and nonminor dependent placed in foster care under the care, custody, and control of the placing agency. The bill would establish the Immediate Needs Program, to provide an array of integrated services and supports based on the immediate needs, as defined, of children who fall into Tier 2 or Tier 3 of the Tiered Rate Structure, pursuant to the IP-CANS assessment. The bill would require the immediate needs allocation for a child to be based on their tier, as determined by the IP-CANS. The bill would specify the department's duties with respect to the Immediate Needs Program, including, but not limited to, overseeing placement agencies in administering the program and developing a certification process for immediate needs providers, as specified. The bill also would require the department to, in consultation with specified entities, to establish statewide minimum standards for the program and providers, and to issue guidance to implement those standards. The bill would establish the Strengths Building and Child and Family Determination Program that, beginning on the implementation date of the Tiered Rate Structure, would be available to every child in foster care whose tier has been determined as part of the Tiered Rate Structure. The bill would require a child and family team, as defined, to perform specified child and family determination functions. The bill would specify the authority and duties of the department and placement agencies under the Strengths Building and Child and Family Determination Program. Existing law lists the settings eligible to receive the specialized care increment, including a licensed foster family home or resource family, approved home of a relative, or approved home of a nonrelative extended family member, as specified. This bill would clarify that a tribally approved home is included in that list of eligible settings. Existing law requires a county social worker to create a case plan for foster youth within a specified timeframe after the child is introduced into the foster care system. Existing law requires the case plan to be based on an assessment of the circumstances that required child welfare services intervention, as specified, and to include prescribed components. This bill, on and after the implementation date of the new Tiered Rate Structure, would require the case plan to include the child's or nonminor's most recent IP-CANS assessment and tier, and information relating to the child's or nonminor's immediate needs allocation plan and strengths building spending plan and spending plan report, as specified. Existing law requires the department to develop an intensive services foster care program to serve children with specific needs, including intensive treatment and behavioral needs and specialized health care needs, whose needs for safety, permanency, and well-being require specially trained resource parents and intensive professional and paraprofessional services and supports in order to remain in a home-based setting or to avoid or exit congregate care in a short-term residential therapeutic program, group home, or out-of-state residential center. Existing law also requires the department to implement intensive treatment foster care programs for eligible children in any participating county that applies for and receives the department's approval for an intensive treatment foster care program rate, as specified. This bill would make those programs inoperative on July 1, 2028, or 24 months after the effective date of the Tiered Rate Structure, and would repeal them as of the January 1 following their inoperative dates. The bill would make various conforming changes to existing provisions to require implementation of the new Tiered Rate Structure for specified placements, and would delete obsolete statutory language and make other conforming changes relating to foster care rates and placements. The bill would require the department to provide updates to the Legislature on key stages of planning, preparation, and implementation efforts and outcomes associated with the Tiered Rate Structure, as specified. By increasing duties of county social workers and placing agencies implementing the new foster care rate structure, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) Existing federal law, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018, among other things, provides states with an option to use federal funds under Title IV of the federal Social Security Act to provide mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs to a child who is a candidate for foster care or a child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth, as specified. Existing law establishes the Family First Prevention Services program, and requires the State Department of Social Services to have oversight of the program and to seek all necessary federal approvals to obtain Title IV-E federal financial participation for those prevention services under the program. Existing law requires a county that elects to provide these prevention services to pay the nonfederal share of the cost for providing the services beyond any state funding provided for that purpose, but authorizes the state to contribute a portion of the nonfederal share of cost and implementation costs, subject to an appropriation of state funds, as specified. Existing law requires a county that receives those state funds to submit a comprehensive plan to the department that includes a continuum of prevention and intervention strategies and services, as specified. Existing law requires counties to use allocated state funds for the nonfederal share of cost of prevention services, allowable administrative activities performed for the program, and program implementation costs, and authorizes counties to also use allocated state funds for the cost of any other prevention services offered pursuant to the comprehensive plan. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, exempts contracts awarded by the department for purposes of the program from specified contracting requirements. This bill would authorize the department to exempt a small county from the requirement to use allocated state funds for the nonfederal share of cost of prevention services, and would require a county with the waiver to use the allocated state funds for the cost of other prevention services offered pursuant to the county's comprehensive plan, allowable administrative activities performed for the program, and program implementation costs. The bill would also extend the contract exemption until July 1, 2028. (9) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services in the California Health and Human Services Agency. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services administers a food assistance program that provides food and funding to food banks whose primary function is to facilitate the distribution of food to low-income households. This bill would, subject to appropriation, require the State Department of Social Services to administer another food assistance program, the State Emergency Food Bank Reserve Program, to provide food and funding for the provision of emergency food and related costs to food banks serving low-income Californians to prevent hunger during natural or human-made disasters, as prescribed, and would define "food banks" to mean participating providers operating in California under the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program or the federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program, members of the nonprofit organization Feeding America that are based in California, and members of the California Association of Food Banks. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to administer the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to participants. Existing law requires the department to review and evaluate the pilot programs and projects funded to determine the economic impact of the programs and projects and their impact on the outcomes of individuals who receive guaranteed income payments, as specified. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2026, and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the inoperative date of these provisions to January 1, 2028, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029. (10) Existing law establishes the Community Care Expansion Program, under the administration of the State Department of Social Services. Under the program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the department awards grants to qualified grantees to administer projects for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of property to be operated as residential adult and senior care facilities, or to promote the sustainability of existing licensed residential adult and senior care facilities through the provision of capitalized operating subsidy reserves. Existing law defines "capitalized operating subsidy reserve" to mean an interest bearing account maintained by the qualified grantee, the residential adult or senior care facility, or a third-party entity and created to cover potential or projected operating deficits on a facility that is deed restricted to provide licensed residential care for at least the term of the reserve. This bill would authorize the department, in its discretion, to accept a capitalized operating subsidy reserve that is restricted by a legally enforceable agreement to provide residential care as an alternative to a deed restriction. (11) Existing law, subject to an appropriation of state funds, establishes the Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support Program, administered by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with specified entities, to develop an allocation methodology for counties that elect to receive funds under the program to be used to supplement, but not supplant, funds for existing family finding and engagement programs. Existing law requires family-finding workers be assigned to family-finding responsibilities full time, but authorizes those workers to be employed by either the county or a nonprofit community based organization with which the county has contracted for this purpose. This bill would authorize a participating county or tribe without a family-finding worker assigned full time to family-finding responsibilities due to an insufficient caseload, as determined by the department, to submit a written request, including specified information, to the department for authorization to use funding to pay for the portion of a family-finding worker's time dedicated to family-finding activities. (12) Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, establishes procedures for the reporting and investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect. The act requires certain professionals, including specified health practitioners and social workers, known as "mandated reporters," to report known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect to a local law enforcement agency or a county welfare or probation department, as specified. Existing law requires, when a child or youth receiving child welfare services is reasonably believed to be the victim of, or is at risk of being the victim of, commercial sexual exploitation and is missing or has been abducted, the county probation or welfare department to immediately report the incident to the appropriate law enforcement authority for entry into the National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) . This bill would specify the contents of the report made by the county probation or welfare department when reporting to law enforcement pursuant to these provisions, including, among other things, a description of the child's or youth's physical features. The bill would require the county probation or welfare department to maintain regular communication with law enforcement agencies and the NCMEC in efforts to provide a safe recovery of the missing or abducted child or youth. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law generally provides for the confidentiality of information regarding a minor in proceedings in the juvenile court and related court proceedings and limits access to juvenile case files. Existing law authorizes only certain individuals to inspect a juvenile case file, including, among others, the minor, the minor's parents or guardian, and the attorneys for the parties. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to disseminate information obtained pursuant to these provisions, as specified. This bill would authorize a county welfare or probation department to disseminate information from a juvenile case file to the NCMEC as necessary for the county welfare or probation department to carry out its duties required under provisions requiring communication between law enforcement and the NCMEC regarding missing or abducted children or youth believed to be the victims of, or at risk of being the victims of, commercial sexual exploitation. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (13) Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. Under existing law, benefit payments under SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment, effective January 1 of each year. Existing law prohibits, for each calendar year, commencing with the 2011 calendar year, any cost-of-living adjustment from being made to the maximum benefit payment unless otherwise specified by statute, except for the pass along of any cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefits. Existing law continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP. This bill would, on or before January 10, 2025, and annually thereafter, require the department to provide a display in writing and on its internet website, as specified. The bill would require the department to update the display at the annual May Revision. (14) Existing law establishes the federally funded and state-funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program (Kin-GAP) , which provides aid on behalf of eligible children who are placed in the home of a relative guardian. Existing law limits the cash savings of a child or nonminor in receipt of Kin-Gap benefits to $10,000, and requires that the child or nonminor have earned income disregarded. This bill would remove that cash savings limitation, and would instead require that income or property received after the beginning date of receipt of Kin-GAP benefits be disregarded. The bill would make these amendments operative on the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation. (15) Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law requires the state and counties to share the annual cost of providing IHSS pursuant to a specified cost ratio, and requires all counties to have a rebased County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE) . Existing law requires the state to pay 100% of the allowable nonfederal share of county administration and public authority administration costs for each county, until the county's share of the appropriated General Fund moneys for administration is exhausted, upon which time, the county is required to pay 100% of the remaining nonfederal share of county administration and public authority administration costs. Existing law requires the department to consult with the California State Association of Counties, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, and the California Association of Public Authorities to determine the county-by-county distribution of the amount of General Fund moneys appropriated in the annual Budget Act for county administration and public authority administration. This bill would require the department to review the budgeting methodology used to determine the annual funding for county administration of the IHSS program and examine the ongoing workload and administrative costs to counties as part of the review beginning with the 2025–26 fiscal year and every 3rd fiscal year thereafter. The bill would also require the department to provide information to the appropriate legislative budget committees regarding this review and how it may impact county administrative costs. (16) Existing law provides for the establishment of 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. Existing law provides that a recipient shall not incur any loss of cash benefits that are taken by an unauthorized withdrawal, removal, or use of benefits that does not occur by the use of a physical EBT card issued to the recipient or authorized third party, as specified, and requires the prompt replacement of the taken benefits, as specified. This bill, notwithstanding any other law or guidance, would additionally prohibit a recipient of nutrition benefits, as defined, from incurring any loss of nutrition benefits taken by an unauthorized contact, withdrawal, removal, or use of the benefits that does not occur by the use of a physical electronic benefits transfer card issued to the recipient or authorized third party to directly access the benefits. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to establish a protocol to use state funds to replace nutrition benefits taken under those circumstances. The bill would authorize the department to issue an all-county letter or similar instructions to implement and amend the requirements and protocols to replace the nutrition benefits, pending the adoption of regulations by June 30, 2026. The bill would require counties to replace eligible, electronically stolen benefits as soon as administratively feasible, but no more than 10 business days following the receipt of the replacement request. By imposing new duties on counties administering nutrition assistance programs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (17) Existing law establishes various programs, including the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program, the Bringing Families Home Program, and the Home Safe Program, administered by the State Department of Social Services, to provide certain homelessness- or housing-related assistance or supports to eligible individuals through grant awards to counties or tribes. Under existing law, grantees under those 3 programs are required to match the funding on a dollar-for-dollar basis but are exempt from that requirement during specified multiyear periods. This bill would remove the requirement for fund matching by grantees under the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program commencing July 1, 2024, would extend the exemption by 2 years for the Bringing Families Home Program, and would extend the exemption by one year for the Home Safe Program. For purposes of the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program, the bill would, commencing July 1, 2024, restructure an existing related provision to specify that the annual ongoing appropriation of funds under the program, subject to an appropriation, is defined as a $25,000,000 General Fund appropriation. Existing law, under that same program, requires a grantee, with the assistance of the department, to seek reimbursement of funds used for housing assistance, general assistance, or general relief from the federal Commissioner of Social Security pursuant to an interim assistance reimbursement agreement, to be expended on additional housing assistance, but waives the requirement to seek reimbursement of funds through June 30, 2025. This bill would extend that waiver through June 30, 2026. (18) Existing law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing federal law, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (federal act) , among other provisions, requires the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to carry out a pilot program to provide grants to 5 states for a fiscal year to negotiate performance benchmarks for work and family outcomes for recipients of TANF and qualified state expenditures. The federal act requires the Secretary and a participating state to agree to a required level of performance on those benchmarks. The federal act also requires the state and the Secretary to enter into a plan to achieve the required level of performance if the state fails to meet that benchmark for 2 successive fiscal years. The federal act requires the pilot to be in effect for 6 fiscal years, with one year to establish benchmark data and negotiate targets and 5 years to measure performance against the targets, as prescribed. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, after consulting with specified stakeholders and staff, to apply to the Secretary to participate in the Pilot Projects for Promoting Accountability by Measuring Work Outcomes program. The bill would state the Legislature's intent to continue to reimagine CalWORKs, and would authorize the department to consider certain reforms, including repealing the federal work participation rate penalty passthrough. (19) Existing law requires the Governor to establish the Interagency Council on Homelessness and requires the council to, among other things, identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California and create a data system, known as the Homeless Data Integration System, to collect local data through Homeless Management Information Systems with the ultimate goal of matching data on homelessness to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs. Existing law prohibits a state public agency from disclosing any personal information in a manner that would link the information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains except under specific circumstances. Existing law also exempts health information and personally identifying information in the Homeless Data Integration System from public inspection or disclosure under the California Public Records Act. Existing law authorizes council staff to share Homeless Data Integration System data with a state agency or department that is a member of the council. This bill would instead require, upon request, council staff to share personally identifiable, individual-level Homeless Data Integration System data with an agency or department that is a member of the council, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, upon access to the data, development of a match and analysis methodology, the successful match of data, and a methodologically feasible approach, to capture this point-in-time data and trends on an annual basis and disclose the data, as specified. (20) 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. (21) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Bill Text

• Chaptered 07/02/24 - Chaptered Current pdf July 02, 2024
• Enrolled 06/27/24 - Enrolled pdf June 27, 2024
• Amended 06/22/24 - Amended Senate pdf June 22, 2024
• Amended 02/01/23 - Amended Assembly pdf February 01, 2023
• Introduced 01/09/23 - Introduced pdf January 09, 2023
• AB161 View text html

Action History

1. July 02, 2024

   Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 46, Statutes of 2024.

2. July 02, 2024

   Approved by the Governor.

3. June 27, 2024

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.

4. June 26, 2024

   Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 71. Noes 2.).

5. June 26, 2024

   Assembly Rule 63 suspended.

6. June 26, 2024

   Assembly Rule 77 suspended.

7. June 26, 2024

   In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.

8. June 26, 2024

   Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 4769.).

9. June 26, 2024

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

10. June 26, 2024

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (June 26).

11. June 22, 2024

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F.R.

12. June 20, 2024

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

13. June 19, 2024

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

14. April 12, 2023

    Referred to Com. on B. & F.R.

15. March 23, 2023

    In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

16. March 23, 2023

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 14. Page 859.)

17. March 21, 2023

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

18. March 20, 2023

    Ordered to second reading.

19. March 20, 2023

    Withdrawn from committee.

20. March 20, 2023

    Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 61. Noes 17. Page 732.)

21. February 02, 2023

    Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET.

22. February 01, 2023

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on BUDGET. Read second time and amended.

23. January 26, 2023

    Referred to Com. on BUDGET.

24. January 10, 2023

    From printer. May be heard in committee February 9.

25. January 09, 2023

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Committee on Budget · Primary

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