California Dem lawmakers proposes bill to decriminalize welfare fraud below $25K over administrative errors
State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas introduced Senate Bill 560, which would delete criminal penalties for welfare fraud below $25,000, and delete a provision for criminal penalties for any attempt at welfare fraud below $950, according to the legislation, which was introduced in February.
"California's safety net should lift families up, not trap them in poverty," Smallwood-Cuevas told Fox News Digital. "Right now, a missed deadline or paperwork mistake can lead to felony charges that tear families apart — even when there's no intent to deceive."
The lawmaker said the bill "offers a smarter, more humane approach by allowing counties to resolve most overpayment cases administratively, holding people accountable without criminalizing poverty."
The legislation is set for a hearing on May 5.
The bill would require a county agency to determine whether the welfare benefits were authorized as a result of an error in the Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS).
It would prohibit a person from being subject to criminal prosecution in certain instances for an overpayment or overissuance of benefits, the bill states.
"This bill is about keeping families out of the criminal justice system from making administrative errors on raising the threshold for welfare fraud prosecutions," Smallwood-Cuevas said in an April 8 Instagram post.
Most welfare fraud occurs when the reported absent parent is actually living in the home, unreported income, using an ineligible child or children not living in the home who are part of the recipient's case, according to the California Department of Social Services.
In Los Angeles County, field investigators handle 15,000 to 20,000 fraud cases or referrals, according to the Department of Public Social Services.
Annually, investigators find fraud in around 5,000 to 8,000 cases. Of that, 200 cases are sent to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office and 95% result in a conviction.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
17 minutes ago
- New York Post
Kamala Harris skewered over book tour for memoir on failed presidential campaign: ‘She's doing a tour about how she lost?'
Former Vice President Kamala Harris was dragged online Thursday after announcing an international tour to promote her new book recounting her failed 2024 presidential campaign. The unemployed 60-year-old will kick off a 15-city tour on Sept. 24, a day after releasing her memoir '107 Days,' which offers a 'behind-the-scenes' look at what the Democrat calls 'the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,' according to a post on X. The post included a short montage of her grinning ear-to-ear on the campaign trail, but social media users quickly panned it as a strange way to mark her crushing loss to President Trump. Advertisement 5 Kamala Harris holding her book, '107 Days,' a 'behind-the-scenes' look at what she calls 'the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.' X/Kamala Harris 'Never seen someone celebrating an L like that lol,' one user quipped, as another blasted it as 'the loser tour.' 'How to blow 2.5B in 107 days,' another commenter added to ex-veep's post. Advertisement 5 North Carolina GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx called Harris' book tour 'a nationwide comedy tour.' X/@virginiafoxx Politicians, White House officials and conservative commentators also swiftly mocked Harris for traveling from New York and Canada to Washington, DC, and London to share a detailed diary of her brutal defeat. North Carolina GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx ripped the roadshow as a 'nationwide comedy tour.' 5 Deputy White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson coitizing the book tour. X/@abigailmarone Advertisement 'She's doing a tour about how she lost?' Deputy White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson posted. 'Does her team have 0 self-awareness or do they just hate her? Because nothing says kicking off your 2028 campaign like a book tour about how badly you lost the last election.' Versus Media Podcast host Stephen L. Miller wrote, 'Because if this last election taught us anything it's that people want to hear more from her.' 5 Book cover featuring Kamala Harris; tour dates listed. X/@KamalaHarris Advertisement In her announcement, Harris said she plans to share an inside peek at lessons learned on the campaign trail and ways the country can remain united and build a path 'forward together.' Harris stepped in as the Democratic presidential nominee after former President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid on July 21, 2024, 107 days before the election — and less than a month after his disastrous debate performance against Trump. The VP was initially buoyed by a wave of positive media coverage, with some polls showing her leading her Republican opponent and eventual victor. 5 Versus Media Podcast host Stephen L. Miller also took aim at the former veep. X/@redsteeze Those gains proved illusory, as Harris became the first Democratic candidate in 20 years to lose the popular vote. Her tour is expected to wrap in Miami on Nov. 20.
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump
NEW YORK — A New York appeals court on Thursday threw out President Donald Trump's massive financial penalty while narrowly upholding a judge's finding that he engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. The ruling spares Trump from a potential half-billion-dollar fine but bans him and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. Trump claimed 'TOTAL VICTORY' in the case, which stemmed from a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. 'They stole $550 million from me with a fake case and it was overturned,' Trump said, echoing his earlier social media post as he addressed police in Washington, D.C. 'They said this was a fake case. It was a terrible thing.' James, a Democrat, focused on the parts of the decision that went her way, saying in a statement that it 'affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.' The ruling came seven months after Trump returned to the White House, his political fortunes unimpeded by the civil fraud judgment, a criminal conviction and other legal blows. A sharply divided panel of five judges in the state's mid-level Appellate Division couldn't agree on many issues raised in Trump's appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was 'excessive.' A lower-court judge, Arthur Engoron, had ordered Trump last year to pay $355 million in penalties after finding that he flagrantly padded financial statements provided to lenders and insurers. With interest, the sum has topped $515 million. Additional penalties for executives at his company, the Trump Organization, including sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., have brought the total to $527 million with interest. 'While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award' to the state, Judges Dianne Renwick and Peter Moulton wrote in one of three opinions shaping the appeals court's ruling. They called the penalty 'an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.' Both were appointed by Democratic governors. Engoron's other punishments, upheld by the appeals court, have been on pause during Trump's appeal, and the president was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond. Donald Trump Jr. celebrated the decision by mocking James, who had periodically posted a running tally of the fraud penalty, with interest. Over a post from James in February 2024, when the tally was nearly $465 million, Trump Jr. wrote: 'I believe you mean $0.00. Thank you for your attention to this matter.' The five-judge panel, which split on the merits of the lawsuit and Engoron's fraud finding, dismissed the monetary penalty in its entirety while also leaving a pathway for an appeal to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. In the meantime, Trump and his co-defendants, the judges wrote, can seek to extend the pause to prevent any punishments from taking effect. While the Appellate Division dispatches most appeals in a few pages in a matter of weeks, the judges weighing Trump's case took nearly 11 months to rule after oral arguments last fall and issued 323 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions with no majority. Rather, some judges endorsed parts of their colleagues' findings while denouncing others, enabling the court to rule. Two judges wrote that they felt James' lawsuit was justifiable and that she had proven her case but the penalty was too severe. One wrote that James exceeded her legal authority in bringing the suit, saying that if any lenders felt cheated, they could have sued Trump themselves, and none did. Another wrote that Engoron erred by ruling before the trial that James had proven Trump engaged in fraud. In his portion of the ruling, Judge David Friedman, appointed by a Republican governor, was scathing in his criticism of James for bringing the lawsuit. 'Plainly, her ultimate goal was not 'market hygiene' … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump's political career and the destruction of his real estate business,' Friedman wrote. 'The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.' Trump and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. At the conclusion of the civil trial in January 2024, Trump said he was 'an innocent man' and the case was a 'fraud on me.' The Republican has repeatedly maintained the case and the verdict were political moves by James and Engoron, both Democrats. Trump's Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president's civil rights. James' personal attorney Abbe D. Lowell has said investigating the fraud case is 'the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign.' Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren't deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren't audited. The defense also noted bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid. Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, lowball estimates of his fortune. During an appellate court hearing last September, Trump's lawyers argued that many of the case's allegations were too old and that James had misused a consumer protection law to sue Trump over private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved. State attorneys said that while Trump insists no one was harmed by the financial statements, his exaggerations led lenders to make riskier loans and that honest borrowers lose out when others game their net worth numbers. The civil fraud case was just one of several legal obstacles for Trump as he campaigned, won and segued to a second term as president. On Jan. 10, he was sentenced in his criminal hush money case to what's known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment. He is appealing the conviction. And in December, a federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider. Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. Trump also is appealing a subsequent verdict that requires him to pay Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamation claims.
Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
Exclusive: Rep. Ilhan Omar condemns party's decision to throw out Fateh endorsement
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar sharply condemned her party's move to overturn its endorsement in the Minneapolis mayoral race on Thursday, calling the reversal a "stain on our party" that will damage Democrats' ability to organize and win "this year, next year, and beyond." Why it matters: The statement, co-signed by over a dozen other local DFL elected officials, captures how the hotly debated decision is already deepening divisions between centrist DFLers and the democratic socialist-allied factions. Context: The statement was released just hours after a state Democratic party committee revoked the Minneapolis DFL Party's endorsement of Omar Fateh, a state senator who identifies as a democratic socialist, over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey. Committee members cited major concerns with local party organizers' handling of the endorsing convention. What they're saying: The four-term congresswoman and other signers condemned thedecision as an " extremely dangerous precedent" that "will undermine the DFL endorsing process going forward and fails to center the will of delegates." "Right now, there is a clear tension between the progressive Democrats who are challenging the status quo and moderate Democrats," the statement reads, calling it "extremely disheartening" that the first Black mayoral candidate to be DFL-endorsed in Minneapolis in the last three decades had the endorsement revoked. Zoom in: The statement, first reported by Axios, was signed by Omar and seven members of Minneapolis' state legislative delegation, three Hennepin County commissioners, one school board member and five Minneapolis City Council members, most of whom have formally endorsed Fateh. Omar has clashed with Frey in the past but has not endorsed in this year's mayoral race. The intrigue: The statement also criticizes newly elected Minnesota DFL chair Richard Carlbom, saying the decision "runs counter to" his campaign promise to unite the DFL. "The DFL Party is a big-tent party and all factions should be fairly represented, not silenced," it reads. "...Undoubtedly, this appalling decision will leave many voters feeling discouraged and unwelcome from participating in our party." Reality check: Minneapolis DFL organizers admitted as part of the challenge process that their electronic voting system failed to capture all delegate votes during July's citywide convention. Between the lines: Omar is a prolific fundraiser who has transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to the state party in recent years.
