The Legislature is in full action in June as both the budget and bills begin to pick up steam. This week the Assembly and Senate passed hundreds of bills by the bill deadline and sent them onto the opposite house. Human service bills fared very well, many passing with two-thirds plus majorities. Among the successful bills was a CalWORKs subsidized employment program, a pilot program for CalWORKs rental assistance, an increase in the CalWORKs child support pass through, restoring the right to public benefit re-hearings, eliminating the asset test for CalWORKs and making some MediCal families categorically eligible for Food Stamps.

Two human service measures drew the ire of Republicans, both having to do with loosening eligibility rules for Food Stamps. On AB 508 (Swanson), a bill to opt California completely out of the bar on Food Stamps for person with drug felony convictions, a Republican lawmaker warned his Democratic counterparts that a vote for the bill might result in political retaliation come election time by linking the vote to a drug felon who sold drugs to a child. On AB 1382 (Leno), to abolish the finger imaging requirement for applicants of Food Stamps only, the Republicans charged that eliminating the requirement would result in $74 million in fraudulent payments. This assertion is without merit to our knowledge. Taken together they signal the continued willingness of some to use welfare as a wedge issue. Both bills passed.

A complete recap of all the human service bills accompanies this summary.

On the budget, the conference committee is entering its second week. There are only a handful of human service items in the conference committee, none of major significance. One issue watched closely by advocates was a technical fix to the CAPI statute that will allow CAPI recipients who become citizens to maintain their CAPI benefits until their application for SSI benefits is approved. This fix was approved by the conference committee over the weekend and final language is being worked out.

The main human service budget action occurred on the sub-committee level. On CalWORKs and SSI/SSP the Senate and Assembly adopted identical actions. Here is a summary of the outcomes:

• Suspend the 2007-8 CalWORKs Cost of Living Adjustment

• Reject the Governor's proposal to impose full family sanctions on CalWORKs households required to work and to time limit assistance of citizen children of ineligible adults.

• Approve trailer bill language moving California to semi-annual reporting for CalWORKs and Food Stamps.

• Approve a Cost of Living Adjustment for both SSI and SSP for 2008.

• Delay the implementation of the Temporary Assistance Program from October, 2007 to April, 2009.

• Require DSS to determine what activities and strategies counties are using to encourage
• participation among time-limited families, gather information about the characteristics of the time-limited population and report that information to the Legislature.

All of these provisions are subject to further negotiation between the Legislature and the Administration. Until a final budget is voted on by the Legislature and the Governor signs it, the CalWORKs and SSI proposals remain at some degree of ongoing risk. While most observers are anticipating an on time budget, there is still plenty of time for things to change.

By: Michael Herald, Legislative Advocate mherald@wclp.org