California Public Benefits: The Basics for Non-Profit and Pro Bono Advocacy 2014

April 1, 2014
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
PLI San Francisco Conference Center & Via Live Webcast
Free!

To Register:
http://www.pli.edu/Content/Seminar/California_Public_Benefits_The_Basics_for/_/N-4kZ1z12f5n?fromsearch=false&ID=173887


Why You Should Attend
Low-income clients need your help to protect their rights to potentially life-saving benefits. Many low-income clients have difficulty navigating the confusing and bureaucratic process to establish and maintain eligibility for public benefits. Without legal assistance and advocacy, large numbers of clients go without the benefits to which they are entitled, which can often lead to unnecessary hunger and homelessness. Attorneys who work with low-income people, or pro bono attorneys interested in working on these types of case, can learn the basics of public benefits law.

What You Will Learn
• Overview of CalWORKs, CalFresh, General Assistance
• Overview of Medi-Cal and other health benefits, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act
• Overview of Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and CAPI
• Understanding of common issues that result in Administrative hearings
• Understanding of strategies and procedures for filing writs

Who Should Attend
Attorneys assisting pro bono clients with benefits matters through representation or in clinical settings, firm pro bono coordinators and partners, corporate law department pro bono managers, law clinic students and faculty, public interest and non-profit organization attorneys and staff, benefits advocates, and benefits agency attorneys and staff.


Program Schedule

9:00
Program Overview and Introductions
Steven Weiss

9:15
CalWORKs
The federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, known as CalWORKs in California, provides an essential but weakening safety-net to California families with minor children. Topics to be addressed by this panel include Welfare-to-Work requirements and exemptions, Time on Aid limits and extenders, child care and support services, and the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) or child exclusion rule.
Antionette Dozier, Amy P. Lee

10:15
CalFresh
The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, called CalFresh in California, provides assistance to individuals and households to meet their basic nutritional needs. This panel will address common issues related to the CalFresh program that result in state hearings and potentially in appeals.
Stephanie Haffner, Lisa M. Newstrom

11:15
Networking Break

11:30
General Assistance
General Assistance (GA), also known as Interim Assistance (federally) or General Relief (in some counties), provides a meager cash stipend, technically a loan, to indigent individuals in California who are not eligible for other cash benefits. GA is state mandated, but county administered, resulting in a patchwork of different program rules. This panel will provide an overview of the GA program, and identify common issues that result in hearings and appeals.
Judith Gold, Kristen Washburn

12:30
Lunch

1:45
Health Benefits: Medi-Cal and the Affordable Care Act
Medi-Cal is a state and federally funded program that pays for medically necessary treatment services, medicines and devices for low-income persons, including children and persons with disabilities. The Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded eligibility for Medi-Cal for lower income people in 2014. This panel will provide an overview of Medi-Cal and the impact of these various changes, and issues that can result in the need for hearings and appeals.
Jen Flory, Shirley E. Sanematsu

2:45
Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and CAPI
Social Security disability benefits, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI) help many Californians with disabilities to maintain housing stability and to access other services. California's Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) provides similar benefits for immigrants who were made ineligible for SSI by the 1996 welfare reform due to their immigration status. This training will provide an overview of the SSDI and SSI programs, eligibility criteria, and common issues that result in the need for hearings and appeals.
Lisa Lunsford, Steven Weiss

3:45
Networking Break

4:00
Writs & Appeals
Public benefits cases can proceed from administrative hearings to court appeals. This panel will discuss writ petitions of state or county actions in state court, and Social Security complaints in federal court. Participants will learn strategies and procedures for litigating administrative writs on behalf of individuals, and more broad-based challenges to government policies, tips for how to develop an adequate administrative record for purposes of appeal, when to consider a C.C.P. § 1085 writ petition rather than simply an administrative writ under C.C.P. §1094.5, and how to structure settlements to minimize their impact on receipt of public benefits.
Patti Prunhuber, Richard A. Rothschild, Steven Weiss

5:00
Adjourn