California’s proposed 2016-2017 budget would repeal the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule, which prevents cash aid from California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS) for any child born into a family that had received assistance from the program for 10 consecutive months prior to the child’s birth.
Senate Bill 23, written by Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), would repeal the MFG rule and has support from the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, chaired by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). The budget also includes a plan to raise funds for state-subsidized child care and early education to $527 million by 2020.
As of January, there were 3,995 families in Santa Barbara County receiving cash aid from CalWORKS, according to the California Department of Social Services. The individual recipients totaled 9,525—7,718 of whom were children.
But for those nearly 4,000 families, an increase in family size wouldn’t necessarily mean an increase in aid, thanks to the current MFG rule. As the rule states, “Your maximum aid payment will not go up to include a child born to your family, if any member of your family got cash aid for the 10 months in a row right before the child’s birth.”
In order to circumvent this rule, a family would have to cut off cash aid for at least two consecutive months during the 10 months before a child’s birth.
MFG opponents say the rule perpetuates poverty and encroaches on women’s reproductive freedoms. In a news release from the Women’s Caucus, Mitchell claimed the rule stems from an idea that women receiving CalWORKS aid might intentionally have children in order to increase their monthly grant.
“Policies like the MFG act to undermine the CalWORKS program, the very program we created to protect children from slipping into extreme poverty,” Mitchell said in the news release. “The Maximum Family Grant is an antiquated policy based on a flawed hypothesis. The woman who would have a baby for an additional $130 a month does not exist. It’s a racist, classist, sexist policy whose time has come.”
The California Legislature voted to pass the budget on June 15, but as of press time Gov. Jerry Brown had yet to sign off on it. Brown is expected to make his decision by the end of the month.
