Welfare

Chris Reed, writing at America's Finest Blog (for non-Californians, this is a reference to Reed's town, San Diego, which long ago was dubbed America's Finest City), has ferreted out an interesting statistic that needs more explanation.

That stat: California, with one-eighth of the nation's population, has nearly one-third of all folks enrolled with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program created by the 1996 federal welfare reform. All told, that's 1.2 million people in California. New York, with a population roughly half of California's, has just more than 252,000 people enrolled in the program.

In California's tough economic times, even small savings can go a long way for a low-income family. Assemblymembers Jim Beall and Felipe Fuentes are working hard to make sure that CalWORKs families have the opportunity to set aside savings that can help them cushion financial emergencies and become financially self-sufficient.

On Tuesday, the California Senate Human Services Committee passed Assembly Bill 1058 (Beall & Fuentes). The California Workforce Mobility Initiative (AB 1058) repeals the $4,650 vehicle asset limit for recipients and applicants and eliminates the $2,000 cash asset limit for recipients. Also, it allows applicants to have $2,000 in savings adjusted to the California Necessities Index.

If enacted, AB 1058 would help CalWORKs families build the savings necessary to become financially self-sufficient through work. It will also save the state $3 million dollars in administrative staff time, according to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This money is otherwise spent conducting quarterly tests to verify that the families are indeed asset poor. States that have eliminated the asset test report a savings and no fraud cases.