SECTIONS 10530-10535 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 10530-10535

10530. It is the intent of the Legislature that, in developing the
plan required by this chapter, counties shall make an effort not to
duplicate planning processes that have already occurred within the
county, but rather to build upon, and incorporate where appropriate,
existing local plans that provide for a collaborative approach to
employment services, economic development, and family and children's
services. These shall include, but are not limited to, county GAIN
plans developed prior to CalWORKs implementation, county plans
developed pursuant to Section 18987.3, economic development plans,
employment development plans, and plans intended to guide any other
local efforts relevant to CalWORKs implementation.

10531. Each county shall develop a plan consistent with state law
that describes how the county intends to deliver the full range of
activities and services necessary to move CalWORKs recipients from
welfare to work. The plan shall be updated as needed. The plan shall
describe:
(a) How the county will collaborate with other public and private
agencies to provide for all necessary training, and support services.
(b) The county's partnerships with the private sector, including
employers and employer associations, and how those partnerships will
identify jobs for CalWORKs program recipients.
(c) Other means the county will use to identify local labor market
needs.
(d) The range of welfare-to-work activities the county will offer
recipients and the identification of any allowable activities that
will not be offered.
(e) The process the county will use to provide for the
availability of substance abuse and mental health treatment services.
(f) The process the county will use to provide for child care and
transportation services.
(g) The county's community service plan.
(h) How the county will provide training of county workers
responsible for working with CalWORKs recipients who are victims of
domestic violence.
(i) The performance outcomes identified during the local planning
process that the county or other local agencies will track in order
to measure the extent to which the county's program meets locally
established objectives.
(j) The means the county used to provide broad public input to the
development of the county's plan.
(k) A budget that specifies the source and expenditures of funds
for the program.
(l) How the county will assist families that are transitioning off
aid.
(m) All necessary components of the job creation plan required by
Section 15365.55 of the Government Code in counties that choose to
implement the program described in Chapter 1.12 (commencing with
Section 15365.50) of Part 6.7 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
(n) Other elements identified by the director, in consultation
with the steering committee under Section 10544.5, including elements
related to the performance outcomes listed in Sections 10540 and
10541.
(o) How the county will comply with federal requirements of the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (Part A (commencing
with Section 601) of Subchapter 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the
United States Code).
(p) How the county will coordinate welfare-to-work activities with
the local private industry councils or alternate administrative
entities designated by the Governor to administer local
welfare-to-work programs, including the expenditure of state or other
matching funds provided to the county welfare department for
welfare-to-work activities. No later than September 1, 1998, and each
year thereafter, subject to continued welfare-to-work funding, each
county shall submit an addendum to its plan required under this
section that describes its coordination efforts.

10532. The department and the counties shall implement the
provisions of the CalWORKs program in the following manner:
(a) The department shall issue a planning allocation letter and
county plan instructions to the counties within 30 days of the
enactment of the CalWORKs program.
(b) (1) Each county shall submit a plan for implementation of the
CalWORKs program within four months of the issuance of the planning
allocation letter by the department. A county may begin
implementation of its plan upon submission of the plan to the
department or the effective date of the CalWORKs program, whichever
is later.
(2) Within 30 days of receipt of a county plan, the department
shall either certify that the plan includes the description of the
elements required by Section 10531 and that the descriptions are
consistent with the requirements of state law and, to the extent
applicable, federal law or notify the county that the plan is not
complete or consistent stating the reasons therefor.
(3) If a county is notified that its plan is not complete or
consistent, the county shall, within 30 days, resubmit a revised plan
to the department for certification.
(c) A county shall begin enrolling all new applicants for aid
under this chapter in the county's welfare-to-work program no later
than six months from the date of issuance of the planning allocation
letter references in subdivision (a) or two months after the
certification of the county plan, whichever is later.
(d) Funds remaining at the end of the 1997-98 fiscal year or the
1998-99 fiscal year from the funds provided to a county in those
years pursuant to Section 15204.2 shall be available to a county
until July 1, 2000, and may be expended only for the purposes set
forth in Section 15204.2.

10533. Commencing July 1, 2011, the department shall establish a
CalWORKs county peer review process, which shall be implemented on a
statewide basis no later than July 1, 2012. The peer review process
shall include individual CalWORKs data reviews of counties, based on
existing data. Counties shall receive programmatic technical
assistance from teams made up of state and peer-county administrators
to assist with implementing best practices to improve their
performance and make progress toward meeting established state
performance goals, as specified in Chapter 1.5 (commencing with
Section 10540) and Section 15204.6.

10534. (a) Each county shall perform a comprehensive review of its
existing CalWORKs plan developed pursuant to Section 10531, and shall
prepare and submit to the department a plan addendum detailing how
the county will meet the goals defined in Section 10540, while taking
into consideration the work participation requirements of the
federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L.109-171). The plan shall
include immediate and long-range actions that the county will take to
improve work participation rates among CalWORKs applicants and
recipients. The plan addendum, at a minimum, shall include all of the
following:
(1) How the county will address increased participation in the
following areas:
(A) Providing upfront engagement activities.
(B) Reengaging noncompliant or sanctioned individuals.
(C) Providing activities to encourage participation and to prevent
families from going into sanction status.
(D) Achieving full engagement by individuals who are required to
participate, and who are partially participating, not participating,
or are between activities.
(E) Other activities designed to increase the county's federal
work participation rate.
(2) A description of how the county will utilize the single
allocation and other funding that will be committed to the county's
CalWORKs program.
(3) A description of anticipated outcomes, including the number of
families affected, that will result in county program improvements,
and the projected impact on the county's federal work participation
rate.
(4) A proposed plan to measure progress in achieving the
anticipated outcomes pursuant to paragraph (3) on a quarterly basis.
(5) A description of how the county will collaborate with local
agencies, including, but not limited to, local workforce investment
boards, community colleges, and adult education and regional
occupational programs that provide activities that meet federal work
participation requirements and provide participants with skills that
will help them achieve long-term self-sufficiency.
(b) Each county shall submit its plan addendum to the department
no later than 90 days after the department issues guidance for the
addendum by all-county letter. Each addendum shall include a
certification that the county board of supervisors has been briefed
regarding the contents of the plan.
(c) Within 30 days of receipt of a county plan addendum, the
department shall either certify that the plan includes the elements
required by subdivision (a) and that the descriptions are consistent
with state, and to the extent applicable, federal law, or notify the
county that the addendum is not complete or consistent, stating the
reasons therefor.
(d) Pending certification of the plan addendum, a county shall
continue to operate its program according to its existing plan, and
may implement changes consistent with the goals of the activities to
be described by the addendum as specified in subdivision (a).
(e) A county shall submit an addendum to the county plan, as
required by this chapter once every three years, as required by the
department.

10534.5. (a) The department shall review the county plans developed
pursuant to Section 10534 in order to identify promising practices
in the areas of upfront engagement and reengagement of sanctioned
families, and shall work with the County Welfare Directors
Association (CWDA) and county welfare directors to gather information
on implementation and results of these practices, that can inform
future efforts to increase participation in welfare-to-work
activities.
(b) The department, in conjunction with the CWDA, shall review the
county plans and work with county welfare directors and the CWDA to
determine what activities and strategies that counties are using to
encourage participation among time-limited families, and gather
information about the characteristics of the time-limited population.
(c) The department shall provide a written update to the
Legislature on March 1, 2008, of the information required by
subdivisions (a) and (b) that is gathered by that date. The
department shall provide the final report of the information required
by subdivisions (a) and (b) to the Legislature and county welfare
directors, on or before September 1, 2008.

10535. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, of the amount
appropriated in Item 5180-101-0890 in the Budget Act of 2006, ninety
million dollars ($90,000,000) in federal Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families block grant funds for the CalWORKs program shall
remain eligible for expenditure until June 30, 2008.