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SB-298 Poverty reduction.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 07/05/2019 09:00 PM
SB298:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  July 05, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  May 17, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  March 27, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 298

Introduced by Senator Caballero
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Burke)

February 14, 2019

An act to add and repeal Division 11 (commencing with Section 20050) of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to poverty reduction.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 298, as amended, Caballero. Poverty reduction.
Existing law establishes the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force, for the purpose of submitting a report to the Legislature and the executive branch that recommends future comprehensive strategies to achieve the reduction of deep poverty among children and reduce the overall child poverty rate in the state. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to invite and convene the task force and to assist the task force in carrying out its duties. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2020.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, commencing in 2020 and every 5 years thereafter, until January 1, 2039, to conduct an analysis and submit a report to the Legislature with specified information, including, among other things, the current California child poverty rate and an estimate of the impact that policies that impact child poverty have had on the deep child poverty rate and the overall child poverty rate in this state. progress that California is making toward ending deep child poverty by 2024 and reducing overall child poverty by 50% by 2039.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 This act shall be known and may be cited as the End Child Poverty Act of 2020.

SEC. 2.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) California has the highest number of children and the highest percentage of children living in poverty of any state in the nation. According to California Poverty Measure 2016 estimates, 19.4 percent of all Californians and 21.3 percent of California’s children live in poverty while 5.5 percent of all Californians and 4.8 percent of California’s children live in deep poverty.
(2) The Legislature and Governor have taken substantial steps to address California’s poverty rate in recent years, by, for example, increasing CalWORKs grants, raising the minimum wage, and establishing a home visiting program for first-time parents in CalWORKs. However, much remains to be done to break the multigenerational cycle of poverty in this state.
(3) In recognition of this challenge, California enacted Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017 (Chapter 415), which called for the development of comprehensive strategies aimed at addressing deep child poverty and reducing child poverty in California, and established the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force (Task Force) to produce a report that recommends such strategies.
(4) In November 2018, the Task Force released its report, which contains a road map for achieving the goals of ending deep child poverty and reducing overall child poverty by 50 percent through a series of specific recommendations aimed at both immediately addressing deep poverty and breaking the multigenerational cycle of poverty.
(5) The Task Force also included recommendations for monitoring progress toward meeting the goals of ending deep child poverty and reducing overall child poverty by 50 percent through development of specific benchmarks and administrative panel data containing various economic and related indicators.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to commit to achieving the poverty-reduction goals of the Task Force, and that California maintain an effective system for measuring progress toward meeting those goals. It is further the intent of the Legislature to establish the specific goals of ending deep child poverty by 2024 and reducing overall child poverty by 50 percent by 2039, using, to the extent feasible, the benchmarks and administrative panel data systems recommended by the Task Force.

SEC. 3.

 Division 11 (commencing with Section 20050) is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

DIVISION 11. Poverty Reduction

20050.
 (a) (1) Commencing in 2020, and every five years thereafter, the State Department of Social Services shall conduct an analysis and report to the Legislature the following information:
(A) The current California child poverty rate, as measured by both the official poverty measure and the California poverty measure, and recent trends in the poverty rates.

(B)An estimate of the impact that policies that impact child poverty have had on the deep child poverty rate and the overall child poverty rate in California. The analysis and report may include the impact of enacted task force recommendations relating to antipoverty, housing, health care, workforce training, juvenile justice, and foster care programs.

(B) An identification of promising and innovative practices, resulting from local implementation of state- and federally funded programs, from across the state that have been shown to reduce child and family poverty and improve child and family well-being. This identification of promising and innovative practices may include a variety of programs including, but not limited to, antipoverty, housing, health care, workforce training, juvenile justice, foster care, early care and education, nutrition, behavioral health, and other programs. The report shall describe each promising and innovative practice and provide information on the feasibility of, and potential strategies for, statewide implementation.
(C) An estimate of the progress that California is making toward ending deep child poverty by 2024 and reducing overall child poverty by 50 percent by 2039.
(D) Additional investments or modifications to existing programs that are needed, if any, to implement on a statewide basis some or all of the promising and innovative practices identified pursuant to subparagraph (B) and to meet the state commitment to poverty reduction identified in subparagraph (C).
(2) In conducting an analysis and report pursuant to paragraph (1), the department shall, to the extent it is available, utilize existing data, calculations, and analyses. analyses, and may consult with counties to identify promising and innovative practices as described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1).
(3) A report submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(b) In evaluating the progress that California is making toward child poverty reduction, the department shall develop a methodology that uses, to the extent feasible, benchmarks and data identified by the task force, as well as other childhood indicators that peer-reviewed studies have shown to be predictive of future adult poverty and, accordingly, next-generation child poverty rates. These indicators may include, but are not limited to, incidence of low birth weights, school test scores, grades, high school graduation rates, juvenile arrest rates, and incidence of reported mistreatment of children.
(c) For the purposes of this section, “task force” means the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force established pursuant to Chapter 415 of the Statutes of 2017.

20060.
 This division shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2039, and as of that date is repealed.