Existing federal law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, replaced the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program. Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal 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. Under existing law, certain types of payments received by recipients of aid under the CalWORKs program, including income from a college work-study program, as specified, are exempt from consideration as income for purposes of determining eligibility and aid amount.
This bill would additionally exempt as income an in-kind gift that is treated as exempt income in the CalFresh program, or income that has been paid to a noncustodial parent and is treated as exempt income in the CalFresh program. By expanding the scope of eligibility for CalWORKs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law requires aid to be granted to a family with a related child under 18 years of age who has been deprived of parental support or care due to the unemployment, continued absence, death, incapacity, or incarceration of a parent. Existing law considers a child to be deprived of parental support or care due to unemployment of the child's parent or parents when the parent has worked less than 100 hours in the preceding 4 weeks and meets specified requirements related to the federal AFDC program.
The bill would, for purposes of determining a child's deprivation of parental support or care due to the unemployment of their parent, delete the requirements that a parent work less than 100 hours in the preceding 4 weeks and meet the federal AFDC program requirements, and would instead disregard the number of hours that the child's parent works provided the family does not exceed the applicable gross or net income limits and is otherwise eligible for assistance. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for the CalWORKs program, thereby imposing a higher level of service on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law prohibits the payment of assistance to an assistance unit if a caretaker relative is participating in a strike, except as specified.
The bill would limit the application of that prohibition to when the prohibition is required by federal law, regulation, or guidance. To the extent this bill imposes additional duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would require the department to conduct a feasibility study regarding expanding CalWORKs, including recommendations. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature and relevant committees on or before ____.
Under the CalWORKs program, certain recipients are required to participate in welfare-to-work activities, which may include, among others, unsubsidized employment, subsidized private sector employment, subsidized public sector employment, and self-employment.
The bill would specify the hours of self-employment are to be computed based on the number of hours the participant engaged in self-employment activity, regardless of the income earned by the participant. By increasing the duties of counties in the administration of the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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, including prioritizing subsidized employment placement that offer opportunities for participants to obtain skills and experiences in their fields of interest. Existing law also requires the department to include specified information for the prior fiscal year regarding the implementation in the CalWORKs Annual Summary to the extent the data is available and reportable, including the number of CalWORKs participants who participated in subsidized employment for at least 3 months, by county, and a complete list of participating employers, by county.
The bill would require the department to consult with representatives from labor unions, public benefits advocates, and individuals with lived experience in addition to the County Welfare Directors Association of California in developing an allocation methodology to distribute additional funding for expanded employment for CalWORKs recipients. The bill would require a participating county to include in its plan submitted to the department how the county intends to carry out prioritizing subsidized employment placement with employers that have a joint labor-management letter of support, a signed community benefits agreement, a project labor agreement, or a labor peace agreement, and that offer opportunities for participants to obtain skills and experiences in their fields of interest. The bill would require the plan to include how the county intends to prevent subsidized employment placements that supplant work that a public employee would have otherwise been hired to do, and prevent placement with employers that have a history of a bad safety record, or resolved or pending litigation, violations, citations, fines, or penalties relating to any state or federal environmental or labor laws within the last 10 years. The bill would require the department to include in the CalWORKs Annual Summary, to the extent data is available and reportable, the names of employers where jobs were subsidized and the total amount of the subsidized portion of wages provided to CalWORKs participants working for that employer. By increasing the duties on counties in administering the CalWORKs program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the above provisions.
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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Statutes affected:
AB 1324: 11201 WIC, 11250.4 WIC, 11322.6 WIC, 11322.64 WIC
02/21/25 - Introduced: 11201 WIC, 11250.4 WIC, 11322.6 WIC, 11322.64 WIC