(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, effective on March 1, 2014, the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2012, as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 11450.02, shall be increased by 5 percent.
(2) Effective April 1, 2015, the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2014, as specified in paragraph (1), shall be increased by 5 percent.
(3) Effective October 1, 2016, the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2016, as specified in paragraph (2), shall be increased by 1.43 percent.
(4) (A) Effective January 1, 2017, households eligible for aid under this chapter shall receive an increased aid payment consistent with the repeal of former Section 11450.04, as it read on January 1, 2016, known as the “maximum family grant rule.”
(B) In recognition of the increased cost of aid payments resulting from that repeal, moneys deposited into the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount shall be allocated to counties pursuant to Section 17601.50 as follows:
(i) One hundred seven million forty-seven thousand dollars ($107,047,000) for January 1, 2017, to June 30, 2017, inclusive.
(ii) Two hundred twenty-three million four hundred fifty-four thousand dollars ($223,454,000) for the 2017–18 fiscal year and for every fiscal year thereafter.
(b) Commencing in 2014 and annually thereafter, on or before January 10 and on or before May 14, the Director of Finance shall do all of the following:
(1) Estimate the amount of growth revenues pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 17606.10 that will be deposited in the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount of the Local Revenue Fund for the current fiscal year and the following fiscal year and the amounts in the subaccount carried over from prior fiscal years.
(2) For the current fiscal year and the following fiscal year, determine the total cost of providing the increases described in subdivision (a), as well as any other increase in the maximum aid payments subsequently provided only under this section, after adjusting for updated projections of CalWORKs costs associated with caseload changes, as reflected in the local assistance subvention estimates prepared by the State Department of Social Services and released with the annual Governor’s Budget and subsequent May Revision update.
(3) If the amount estimated in paragraph (1) plus the amount projected to be deposited for the current fiscal year into the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount pursuant to subparagraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section 17600.15 is greater than the amount determined in paragraph (2), the difference shall be used to calculate the percentage increase to the CalWORKs maximum aid payment standards that could be fully funded on an ongoing basis beginning the following fiscal year.
(4) If the amount estimated in paragraph (1) plus the amount projected to be deposited for the current fiscal year into the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount pursuant to subparagraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section 17600.15 is equal to or less than the amount determined in paragraph (2), no additional increase to the CalWORKs maximum aid payment standards shall be provided in the following fiscal year in accordance with this section.
(5) (A) Commencing with the 2014–15 fiscal year and for all fiscal years thereafter, if changes to the estimated amounts determined in paragraphs (1) or (2), or both, as of the May Revision, are enacted as part of the final budget, the Director of Finance shall repeat, using the same methodology used in the May Revision, the calculations described in paragraphs (3) and (4) using the revenue projections and grant costs assumed in the enacted budget.
(B) If a calculation is required pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Department of Finance shall report the result of this calculation to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature upon enactment of the Budget Act.
(c) An increase in maximum aid payments calculated pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), or pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) if applicable, shall become effective on October 1 of the following fiscal year.
(d) (1) An increase in maximum aid payments provided in accordance with this section shall be funded with growth revenues from the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount in accordance with paragraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section 17600.15 and subdivision (f) of Section 17606.10, to the extent funds are available in that subaccount.
(2) If funds received by the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount in a particular fiscal year are insufficient to fully fund any increases to maximum aid payments made pursuant to this section, the remaining cost for that fiscal year will be addressed through existing provisional authority included in the annual Budget Act. Additional increases to the maximum aid payments shall not be provided until and unless the ongoing cumulative costs of all prior increases provided pursuant to this section are fully funded by the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Subaccount.
(e) Notwithstanding Section 15200, counties shall not be required to contribute a share of the costs to cover the increases to maximum aid payments made pursuant to this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 25, Sec. 17. (AB 1603) Effective June 27, 2016.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018