(a) The Legislature hereby requests the Regents of the University of California to establish and administer a program or programs to support welfare research and evaluation of the CalWORKs program.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the program or programs established by the University of California:
(1) Establish a sponsored grants program to provide funding for interested researchers to undertake studies on important welfare-related issues. These grants shall be applied only to research projects requested by representatives of state and local government entities.
(2) Establish one or more Bureau of the Census secure data sites to link census and administrative data bases for ongoing research purposes.
(3) Use existing data archives to develop data sets appropriate for monitoring and evaluating the impacts of CalWORKs program implementation in California.
(4) Create and maintain public use data sets and make data available to researchers and members of the public to support welfare research and related human services research.
(5) Provide an ongoing capacity for supporting, conducting, and disseminating welfare policy research.
(6) Produce and maintain lists of researchers working with California welfare data or conducting research on public assistance in California.
(7) Review, edit, publish, and disseminate research and evaluation reports to state and local policymakers.
(8) Provide forums for the presentation of research findings and the discussion of research on welfare.
(9) Provide a location for welfare data archives and monitor ongoing funding for their upkeep.
(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 270, Sec. 160. Effective August 11, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998, by Sec. 183 of Ch. 270.)