HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12021997 - C128 c12g
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ,�,sE-,� o
F&HS-01 �.r _ :F Contra
a Costa osta
FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
- ���� Count
Cf,, - �.:L4�, y
DATE: November 17, 1997
SUBJECT:
SERVICES TO LEGAL IMMIGRANTS
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. EXPRESS the Board's appreciation to the Health Services Director and his
staff for continuing to make prenatal services available to all women,
regardless of immigration status, and for their continuing outreach program
designed to encourage all pregnant women to avail themselves of the
Department's prenatal services.
2. URGE the Health Services Director to continue the outreach program to all
pregnant women in an effort to ensure that adequate and appropriate prenatal
services are available to every pregnant woman in the County in order to
prevent or mitigate the numerous medical conditions which can be caused or
magnified by inadequate prenatal services.
3. CONCUR with the Health Service Director's plans to forward to the Board of
Supervisors on December 2, 1997 the prenatal program which the
Department is making available to women who have no source of medical
coverage on a sliding scale based on income.
4. REQUEST the Health Services Director to determine the number of women
who are at risk of losing their restricted Medi-Cal coverage and the
approximate cost of continuing the services to these women and report this
information to the Family and Human Services Committee in January 1998.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD C MMI TEE
APPROVE OTH
SIGNATURE (S): MARK DeSAULNIER DONNA G ER
ACTION OF BOARD ON December 2, 1997 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED x OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ATTESTED Decenb.er 2, 1997
Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
CC: SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
See Page 5
BY (!�7/j ,DEPUTY
F&HS-01
5. REQUEST the Health Services Director to determine the extent to which it is
possible to estimate the overall long-term impact on County services (such as
law enforcement, hospital, mental health) of having children who are
malnourished because their Food Stamp allocation has been terminated or
reduced because adult legal immigrants between the ages of 18 and 64 are
no longer eligible for Food Stamps, even though some of their children may
remain eligible, thereby forcing the family to share fewer Food Stamps among
the entire family, and to report his findings to the Family and Human Services
Committee in January 1998.
6. REQUEST the Social Service Director to draft a letter to the boards of
supervisors in the other Bay Area counties from the Chair of the Board of
Supervisors asking for their cooperation in attempting to formulate a joint
legislative solution to this problem and forward it to the Board of Supervisors
on December 2, 1997 for the Board's consideration with this Committee
report. If the Board is satisfied with the draft letter, AUTHORIZE the Chair to
sign it.
7. REQUEST the Social Service Director to follow up on the letter approved in
recommendation #6 by working with his counterparts in other Bay Area
counties to share information on how each county is responding to the cutoff
of Food Stamps to adult legal immigrants between 18 and 64 years of age,
and to work on 'possible solutions to this problem, including considering
proposed legislation at either the State or Federal level to restore Food
Stamps to these individuals, and report back to the Family and Human
Services Committee in January 1998.
8. REQUEST the Social Service Director to sample the case records of the 1600
individuals who have been cut off of Food Stamps because they are adult
legal immigrants between the ages of 18 and 64 and provide some additional
demographic information to the Family and Human Services Committee in
January 1998. This information should include at least the number of family
units that are represented by the 1600 individuals, the average size of the
family unit, in how many of the cases only part of the family has been cut off
of Food Stamps leaving children under the age of 18 and adults over the age
of 64 eligible but forcing the entire family to live off of a smaller allocation of
Food Stamps, what proportion of the families have one or more individuals
who were working at the time Food Stamps were eliminated and such other
information as can readily been obtained to give the Board of Supervisors a
better idea of who these 1600 individuals are and in what circumstances they
are living.
9. REQUEST the Social Service Director to contact the Food Bank and other
food distribution programs in the County, possibly through the Food and
Nutrition Policy Council, to determine what their experience has been in terms
of increases in the number of individuals and families who are seeking food,
particularly if it is possible to determine whether any of the increase is due to
the cut off of Food Stamps to the 1600 individuals who are adult legal
immigrants between the ages of 18 and 64 and report his findings to the
Family and Human Services-Committee in January 1998.
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F&HS-01
10. REQUEST the Social Service Director to identify the amount of money that is
being spent by the Department helping legal immigrants to apply for
citizenship and report this information to.the Family and Human Services
Committee in January 1998.
11. REQUEST the Social Service Director to determine whether anything can be
done to increase the job training opportunities for legal immigrants to assist
them in becoming self-supporting and to report any progress in this area to
the Family and Human Services Committee in January 1998.
12. 'REQUEST both the Social Service Director and Health Services Director to
try to identify additional funding sources which might assist immigrants who
have lost or are at risk of losing Food Stamp and medical benefits.
13. REMOVE this issue as a referral to the 1997 Family and Human Services
Committee, referring it instead to the 1998 Family and Human Services
Committee.
BACKGROUND:
On October 28, 1997, the Board of Supervisors referred to our Committee the issue
of legal immigrants, some of whom are losing their eligibility for Food Stamps and
undocumented immigrants, some of whom may be losing their restricted Medi-Cal
eligibility.
On November 17, 1997, our Committee met with staff from the Social Service and
Health Services Departments, County Counsel's Office, the Central Labor Council
and various immigrant advocacy groups.
Bob Hofmann, Assistant Social Service Director; Wendel Brunner, M.D., Public
Health Director and Julie Kelley, Assistant to the Health Services Director for
Program and Policy Development, presented the attached joint report to our
Committee and reviewed it with us. As a result of action by the Legislature to
implement a State-only Food Stamp Program for legal immigrants who are either
under 18 years of age or over 64, there are 1600 remaining legal immigrants in the
County who have had their Food Stamps discontinued effective August 31, 1997.
Prenatal services for all immigrants remain in place. Health Services does not
inquire into an individual's legal status before providing prenatal services. The
Department has an extensive outreach program to identify pregnant women who do
not have a source of medical care. It is clear that the failure to obtain proper
prenatal care can result in future health and medical costs for the County. This is
a clear instance where prevention pays off handsomely in reducing future health
care costs. It was noted that the actual delivery of a baby is still covered, even for
undocumented immigrants, because a delivery is considered an emergency.
However, the restricted Medi-Cal services for undocumented women to provide them
with prenatal services are in danger of being terminated. In response to this
possibility, Health Services has prepared a prenatal program for women who do not
have a source of medical care. This program will be available on a sliding scale
based on income. This program is being forwarded to the Board of Supervisors
under separate cover on December 2, 1997 for the Board's approval.
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F&HS-01
Attached is a memo from the Coalition for Immigrant Rights dated November 10,
1997 with some options for us to consider. Also attached is a November 17, 1997
memo from the Coalition of Contra Costa Immigrant Advocates outlining what they
would like the County to do. This includes implementing a County-only Food Stamp
Program for the 1600 individuals who have lost their Food Stamps. The Coalition
noted that such a program would cost the County $1,344,000 per year in County
General Fund dollars. It was noted that San Francisco County has donated
somewhere between $140,000 and $170,000 to their Food Bank to assist
immigrants.
Kathy Lafferty, Executive Director of Cambridge Community Center, noted that,
contrary to the information presented by the Social Service Department, her food
distribution program has seen a marked increase in usage in the past month or two.
It was noted by one of the advocates present that immigrants do not typically use
food banks and therefore donating to a food bank would not necessarily help the
immigrants who are losing their food stamps. Another advocate noted that, contrary
to what may be a common perception, immigrants frequently work in an effort to
support their families. However, their lack of skills means many are working at
minimum wage jobs and simply cannot make enough money to support their families
without help from programs such as Food Stamps.
In response to a question from our Committee, Mr. Hofmann noted that there are
families where the children are eligible to Food Stamps, either because they are
citizens or because they are covered by the State-only program, but their parents are
not covered by either program. This means that the entire family is no doubt living
off the reduced allocation of Food Stamps which are being provided solely for the
children. Mr. Hofmann did not know how many of the 1600 individuals who were
eliminated from Food Stamps this might include but indicated his staff could pull a
sample of case records and obtain additional information about these individuals.
_Our Committee also asked about how many pregnant undocumented immigrants
were in danger of losing their restricted Medi-Cal. Health Services did not have that
information readily available but indicated they could get it by determining the
number of women who are on restricted Medi-Cal, since nearly all of them would be
undocumented immigrants.
Our Committee is very concerned about the changes which have been made by the
Federal Government which have resulted in the problems which have been brought
to our attention. We clearly do not have $1,334,000 available to run our own,Food
Stamp Program. In addition, the loss of Food Stamps is not the only problem with
which we will be confronted in the future. There are some 1400 individuals who will
be losing their SSI next year. The annual cost of replacing those SSI grants with
County.money would probably run in excess of$8 million.
As a result of our discussion, we are recommending the Board of Supervisors direct
that additional information be gathered which will provide the 1998 Family and
Human Services Committee with more complete data with which to measure the
extent and impact of the problem and who is being impacted. In addition, we are
asking that other Bay Area counties be contacted to see whether we can coordinate
a legislative solution to these problems or come up with other solutions. We also
need to know what response other counties are making to these problems.
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F&HS-01
We are asking Health Services and Social Service to report back to the 1998 Family
and Human Services Committee in January so we can take a more comprehensive
look at the problem and determine what we can best recommend to the Board.
cc: County Administrator
Social Service Director
Health Services Director
Public Health Director
Joe Goglio, Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Jennifer Ocon, Coalition for Immigrant Rights
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SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT Contra Costa County
TO Family and Human Services Committee DATE November 12, 1997
FROM John Cullen, Social Service Director cc Phil Batchelor
William B. Walker, M.D., Health Services Director
SUBJ Report on the Eligibility of Legal Immigrants to Food Stamps and Prenatal Care
As requested by the Board, the following is a recap of the availability of Food Stamps
and Prenatal Services to legal non-citizens. Although it was not specifically requested,
some information is included with regard to Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
In general, immigrants to this county who arrive after 8/22/96 will not be eligible to
SSI or federal or state Food Stamps. In California they are expected to remain
eligible for AFDC and Medi-Cal.
&nnlemental Security Income SSI)
Initially, federal legislation eliminated SSI cash and full medical benefits for most
legal aliens. That law has now been amended to maintain SSI benefits for most aged,
blind and disabled individuals who were receiving benefits prior to 8/22/96. These
are aliens defined as "Qualified." However, approximately 1,400 "Not Qualified"
alien individuals in Contra Costa County are scheduled to lose SSI case benefits after
9/98. These individuals may be eligible only for emergency medical care through the
Medi-Cal program.
Qualified: Lawful Permanent Resident Aliens, Refugees, Parolees,
Asylees, etc.
Not Qualified: Indefinite Stay of Deportation, Applicant for Adjustment of
Status, Lawful Temporary Resident, Student and Visitor
Visa Holders, Undocumented, etc.
Qualified aliens who were residing in the United States on 8/22/96, and who became
blind or disabled after that date, would be eligible for SSI benefits. An aged
individual may apply for SSI benefits as a disabled person. Alien women who are not
qualified may be eligible for state funded prenatal care Medi-Cal benefits.
Food Stamps
Among the Food Stamp changes mandated by the federal welfare reform legislation
was the elimination of federal Food Stamps for most legal non-citizens. Eligibility
remained for legal non-citizens who were asylees, refugees who were in the country
for less than 5 years, certain veterans, and those who have worked in this country for
a specified period of time (approximately ten years).
Social Service Department staff reviewed current Food Stamp cases and discontinued
approximately 2,300 non-citizens from Food Stamps effective 8/31/97. The state
legislature approved and the Governor signed into law AB 1576 which created the
California Food Assistance Program (CFAP). This law created a state-only program
to provide Food Stamps to legal non-citizens under 18 years of age or 65 years of age
or older who were legally present in the United States prior to 8/22/96. Beginning in
September and concluding in October, county staff restored Food Stamp benefits to
704 eligible recipients. This means that 1,600 legal non-citizens lost Food Stamps as
a result of the federal law change.
Many of these individuals continue to receive AFDC cash benefits and Medi-Cal
benefits which have not been affected. Some are in households which continue to
receive Food Stamps (for family members who remain eligible to Food Stamps).
A geographic breakdown of the discontinuances and restorations follows:
County Total Persons Number of Persons Number of Legal
Geographical Discontinued 8/31/97 Restored to the Non-Citizens Ineligible
Division from Federal Food California Food to Either Federal or
Stamp Program Assistance Program State Food Stamps
East County 593 110 483
Central County 622 201 421
West County 1,088 393 695
[Totals 2,303 704 1,599
Recent inquiries of emergency food providers have found that they have not yet seen a
significant increase in requests for food assistance.
A survey of Alameda, Monterey, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Los
Angeles Counties indicate that at this time only San Francisco is planning to provide
county funds to replace federal Food Stamps. San Francisco intends to provide county
funds to its Food Bank which will identify the communities most impacted and, if
necessary, establish additional pantries for food distribution.
Should the Board wish to continue some level of food services to persons no longer
eligible to federal or state programs, providing funds to the county Food Bank or
other voluntary organizations would be an alternative. A county-only Food Stamp
program would be so complex to design and administer it would not be a practical
alternative.
2
Prenatal Services
The Health Services Department is committed to providing prenatal services to all
Contra Costa residents, regardless of immigration status. In addition, health service
programs for legal immigrants are not in danger. Health Services does not anticipate
changes to any programs for this population.
A more immediate concern is that restricted Medi-Cal for undocumented women is in
danger of being discontinued on 12/1/97 (for new Medi-Cal enrollees) and 1/1/98 (for
continued patients). This cutoff date (issued by the State Department of Health
Services) has been moved back on several occasions, so we are not sure how
imminent this deadline really is. However to address this possibility, the Health
Services Department is developing a prenatal program for women who have no source
of medical coverage. There will be no change from the current level of care provided
to prenatal patients. Payments for this program will be based on a sliding scale.
Health Services and Social Service staff will be available at your Monday,
November 17 meeting to respond to questions.
MC
bob 12
lglimmig.mem
3
MEMORANDUM
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To. Krion Washhzan—Vagal Assist ce for Seniors, Joe Gaglio—
AFL-CIO
FROM: Angie Wei,Northern California Coalition for hn0j,igrant Rig,1i'ts
TWFP,N RE-. Contra Cosm County Implementation of Welfare Reform
GgRNQRIMRKU
C+azliltion for DATE: November 10, 1997
Immigrant RaghTs
It was a.pleasure meeting bath of you at the training in Conuxa Costa County. Per
our diseuesaon,I wanted to forward some options f'or the county to pursue.
Countirs across rbc including Alamed,,4 Scuta Clara,and San Fmwisco are
exploring optiow to mitigate the effects of*e cuts in food gtemps for immigmts.
Some ideas that have be=generated include:
FoodSwmW
Replacing food stamps with county ftmds
• Replacing food stamps for some i=nigrastts with county funds
s Replacing food st=ps for children who are U years old and have not funished
high school .
*. Increased fimding to food huts to incre&W parthy capacity to feed
communities with linguistically,culturally,and geogtapW cally sensitive
services
Working with community based orgmizafions to document the bars of food
stamp losses
e increase cash assistance for immigrant families who lose food stamps
* Involvement in cmploymmd and training programs
Prenatal care
a Continue to provide pranaral care at all county facilities
e Usc cptunity fiords m reimburse non-couaty pmvidws(e.g. clinics) ofpicni=1
998 maew SUC04 care
211'Fl°°' • Fund car with limited co dollars and=pose a m=imum share
San Praia,rA prenatal county po
ga1o3 of coot on the pati=t Mo fill the gap
Tal•41512438215 • +S.1G'=h for privatz Sawn*of fElndbls,
f1i-11s62434Ma-1a
nesirutr ape.ar; Hqppe these i,im arc at least somewhat halpful. Someone=Our staff will try to
lmd&AW Anhb 'u"• be at the hearing on.November 17*. Please call in the interim if you have any
40/3 aaTMT � png (415 4243.9215 cxwnsion 345). Tbwk you for all your work and I look
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DATE: November 17, 1997
TO: Family and Human Services Committee,
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
FROM: Coalition of Contra Costa Immigrant Advocates
(The coalition includes: AFL-CIO Community Services, Asian Family Resource,
Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Laotian Organizing Project,Northern
California Coalition for Immigrant Rights)
RE: Proposal for County Action on Immigrant Access to Food Stamps and Prenatal
Care
Immigrants have been unjust targets of cuts in social services nationwide, even though they work
and pay taxes the same as citizens do. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 44 percent of
the total cuts in the welfare reform law, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act
(PRWORA), came from the elimination of benefits for immigrants. While limited restorations were
enacted at the federal and state level,thousands of immigrants in Contra Costa County have lost or
face losing crucial social services. This is the time for Contra Costa County to develop immediate
and long-term strategies for immigrants living within its borders.
As members of the Family and Human Services Committee of the Contra Costa Board of
Supervisors, our coalition encourages you to propose that the Board act on the following
recommendations to address immediate concerns:
FOOD STAMPS
Contra Costa County should enact a simple replacement Food Stamp program for immigrants
between the ages of I8-64, who are ineligible for Federal and State Programs.
Approximately 1,600 legal immigrants (ages 18-64) in Contra Costa County were cut off from
Federal Food Stamps on September 1, 1997, as a result of PRWORA, and do not qualify for
California's State Food Stamp program. In Contra Costa, Food Stamp benefits for one person equal
about $70 a month. This would mean that the County would need to spend approximately
44 000 a year to buy Food Stamps from the Department of Agriculture for a replacement
program. Our coalition believes such a replacement plan is the best way to address the loss of Food
Stamps to immigrants, because it is a system that people already know, it is relatively simple to
enact, and it will ensure immigrants the ability to continue to purchase the food they need at nearby
stores they regularly shop in.
A County Food Stamp Program is needed for the following reasons:
- Loss of food stamps for individuals aged 18-64 means less food for the entire family,
including children. Immigrant families share food. Because the State Food Stamp
program only provides Food Stamps for children and the elderly,the entire family ends
up using food stamps meant for one or two people, leaving less food for each person.
- Loss of food stamps leaves immigrant families with a smaller overall income,
forcing them to make difficult compromises on basic needs, such as whether to
purchase food or to pay rent. The majority of low-income families spend more than
half of their income on housing. A Food Stamp program would set aside money in a
family's budget specifically for food needs.
PRENATAL CARE
Contra Costa County should pass a resolution that stipulates a "don't ask, don't tell"policy
regarding clients'immigration status, to be enacted by all eligibility workers and staff of County
prenatal care services. The County should also commit to doing outreach to immigrant women
about the extent of the services available to them.
Contra Costa County has expressed commitment to providing prenatal services to all Contra Costa
residents, regardless of immigration status. This.is a positive step. The don't ask, don't tell policy
we recommend is critical for the following reasons:
Many immigrant women are fearful of seeking prenatal care and other medical
services they qualify for, putting themselves and their babies at significant health
risks. A clear policy would offer a higher level of trust and security to immigrants in
need of services. Eligibility workers and other staff should be trained to ask only
questions that are relevant to determine eligibility for services.
Many immigrant women are unsure what they are eligible for in terms of health-
related services. A cohesive, multilingual outreach effort would provide immigrants
with the information they need to keep themselves and their children healthy.
LONG-TERM ISSUES
Lastly, we would like to recommend that the Board not limit its efforts to the immediate issues at
hand, but also consider long-term strategies/policies, such as job-creation, living wages for all
workers, and programs for specific job-readiness needs of immigrants. Such investments in the
community would ultimately reduce the demand for many social services that the County provides.
The _Board of SupervisorsContra Phil BatchelorClerkofftBoard
Costa andCounty Administration Building County Administrator
651 Pine Street, Room 106 (510)335-1900
Martinez,California 94553-1293 County
Jim Ropers,1st District
Gayle S.Uilkema,2nd District
Donna Gerber,3rd District
Mark Deftulnier,4th District /
Joe CarWWWlla,5th District 7
December 2, 1997
Board of Supervisors
County of Alameda
1221 Oak Street, Suite 536
Oakland, CA 94612
Dear Board Members:
Each of the counties in the Bay Area is being impacted to a greater or lesser degree
by Federal and State changes in the Food Stamp Program as they affect the
eligibility of legal non-citizens. This letter is a request for your cooperation in
attempting to formulate a joint legislative solution to this problem. We are sending
a similar letter to the board of supervisors in each of the Bay Area counties.
Our own County has approximately 2,300 individuals who were discontinued from
the Federal Food Stamp Program in August. Of these, about 700 were restored as
a result of State legislation which provided benefits to legal immigrants who are
either under 18 years of age or over 64 years of age. This means that there are
some 1 ,600 legal immigrants in this County who have had their Food Stamps
discontinued. While many of these individuals may be in families which continue to
receive Food Stamps or some other form of aid, the total funds available for their
subsistence has been reduced and this entire family must be living off the reduced
level of benefits.
Contra Costa County will be reviewing a sample of the persons discontinued from
Food Stamps to determine their current circumstances. We would like to work with
other Bay Area counties to share information on how each county is responding to
the cutoff of Food Stamps to legal immigrants and to work on possible solutions to
this problem. We are asking our Social Service Director, John Cullen, to have his
staff contact his counterpart in your County to begin these discussions.
Please let me know if you would like further information or if you have suggestions
on how we might approach this issue.
Very truly yours,
MARK DeSAULNIER, CHAIR