Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Welfare Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Assembly committee advances repeal of CalWORKs 'man in the house' rule
Summary
SB 1030 would eliminate an outdated CalWORKs provision that required extra reporting when an unrelated adult male lived in a household, a policy advocates said is rooted in racist and misogynistic assumptions; sponsors said repeal would simplify administration and remove a surveillance tool used disproportionately against women of color.
Sen. Smallwood Cuevas presented SB 1030, a Legislative Women’s Caucus priority, to repeal a CalWORKs unrelated adult male rule sometimes called the “man in the house” policy. Supporters described the provision as a remnant of the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children era that enabled intrusive surveillance and penalties against families because an unrelated man lived in the home.
Rebecca Gonzales of the Western Center on Law and Poverty said the rule was redundant with existing income‑reporting practices and cited judicial history in which similar presumptions were found unconstitutional (King v. Smith) and constrained in Lewis v. Martin. "This policy is a remnant from the old AFDC program ... This policy is not only outdated, but also redundant of current law," Gonzales said.
Alexis Rodriguez of the County Welfare Directors Association testified the rule imposes duplicative intake forms and administrative burdens on counties without adding new information beyond normal intake and redetermination forms. Multiple advocacy groups and the lieutenant governor’s office registered support. The committee moved SB 1030 to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and recorded passage out of the Human Services Committee (final recorded 6–0).
