Editor’s Note: The work of UC Berkeley Social Sciences faculty helps shape California public policy. In this series, learn more about their research and projects and how they resonate with state policymakers and address solutions to the most pressing issues facing California, from food access to homelessness.
UC Berkeley Economics and Public Policy Professor Hilary Hoynes uses her expertise in child poverty and the social safety net to influence California public policy and develop solutions to the state’s economic issues.
Hoynes, who was awarded the 2024 Daniel M. Holland Medal by the National Tax Association, has held several roles where she worked directly on California public policy. This includes serving on Governor Newsom's Council of Economic Advisors (GCEA) and on the State Task Force on Lifting Children and Families out of Poverty, as well as serving as head of the Economic Disparities faculty cluster at UC Berkeley’s Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society (now the Othering & Belonging Institute).
UC Berkeley Social Sciences spoke with Professor Hoynes, who is also the co-director of Berkeley's The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality, about the work she has done on California public policy related to expanding the social safety net and reducing poverty. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Please describe your time serving on Governor Newsom's Council of Economic Advisors (GCEA) and the work on California public policy you did there.
Hilary Hoynes: It was my honor to serve on Governor Newsom's Council of Economic Advisors from 2019–2024. The GCEA is facilitated by leadership of the California Department of Finance and serves to provide expertise on economic policy and the economy for the Governor and his staff. We met monthly and discussed a range of issues raised by the Governor's staff or GCEA members. The Governor attended the meetings rarely, but when he did it was with a keen interest in being briefed on a certain issue — for example, macroeconomy and government policy during the COVID pandemic. The GCEA briefed staff on policy issues and also prepared policy memos.
What was the impact of the workshop you ran about the Calfresh program (federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP)?
Hilary Hoynes: For 10 years I was the head of the Economic Disparities faculty cluster in the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society (now the Othering & Belonging Institute), where I also held the faculty Chair of Economic Disparities. It was in that capacity that I came up with an idea for setting up a mechanism for interactions and discussions between policymakers, policy staffers, academics and nonprofit leaders. I organized a day-long workshop to do just this in 2015 entitled "The Future of SNAP? Improving Nutrition Policy to Ensure Health and Food Access." The workshop consisted of three panel discussions, poster sessions and structured table conversations. We prepared a policy brief out of the event. The event succeeded in bringing these different groups together and having productive conversations about what we know, what we don't know and directions for policy.
Tell us more about the panel you organized and moderated called "How to fight poverty at the state level."
Hilary Hoynes: I organized a panel for the September 2024 Goldman School Annual Conference on "How to fight poverty at the state level." I moderated the panel, which included state policymakers and heads of state nonprofits who learned about the innovations in California policy aimed at poverty reduction. We got in the weeds in discussing specific policies, what we know from the research and how to improve the delivery of these programs. We also discussed the importance of organizing and learned lessons on how these policies got passed. I think it was quite well received as the audience was standing-room only!
What California social safety net programs have you worked on with the California Policy Lab?
Hilary Hoynes: We are engaged in work with the California Department of Social Services, who administers the state CalFresh program. We have also been engaged with the Franchise Tax Board as they administer the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) and the Young Child Tax Credit. We are currently developing agreements to engage in data linkages between the Department of Social Services and various state sources for health data. This will allow us to study how these programs and policies affect health outcomes.
Can you talk more about the work you did as a member of the State of California Task Force on Lifting Children and Families out of Poverty?
Hilary Hoynes: I was a member of the task force that aimed to provide policy recommendations for reducing child poverty in the state. At the same time, I served on the U.S. National Academy of Sciences panel tasked with the same issue at the federal level. I gave a few presentations as part of the initial work of the committee — to learn about the programs we have and what we know about them.