Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including group home facilities, short-term residential therapeutic programs, and adult residential facilities, by the State Department of Social Services. The department similarly regulates residential care facilities for the elderly. Existing law requires administrators of these facilities to complete a department-approved certification program. Under existing law, the department is authorized to charge a fee of up to $100 for an initial or renewal administrator certification, and an additional $300 delinquency fee for processing a late renewal. Existing law also authorizes a fee of up to $150 every 2 years to certification program vendors for review and approval of the training program, and $100 every 2 years for review and approval of continuing education courses.
This bill would uniformly refer to these certification programs as administrator certification training programs. The bill would revise the existing fee structure, commencing July 1, 2021, including making the $100 fee for processing a certification application or renewal subject to a 10% increase each year for 4 years, and imposing a new examination fee of $100 for 3 attempts, and a $10 per unit fee for processing continuing education courses. The bill would subject the fees for administrator certification training program vendor applications and continuing education vendor training programs to a 10% increase over 4 years.
Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to implement and maintain nonbiometric identity verification methods in the CalWORKs program.
This bill, commencing July 1, 2021, would authorize a CalWORKs applicant or recipient to provide proof of identity via videoconferencing or any other electronic means that allows for a visual interaction between the applicant or recipient and county eligibility staff. Under the bill, verification conducted in this manner would satisfy any inperson identification requirement. Because the bill would increase the administrative duties of counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
Under existing law, an applicant family is not eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program unless the family's income, exclusive of the first $90 of earned income for each employed person, is less than the minimum basic standard of care, as specified.
This bill would, as of July 1, 2022, increase that amount of excluded earned income to $450, as specified. Because the bill would result in an increase in CalWORKs eligibility, thus increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Under existing law, a parent or caretaker relative is not eligible for CalWORKs aid when the parent or caretaker has received aid for a cumulative total of 48 months. Existing law increases that time limit to 60 months on May 1, 2022, or upon a specified notification to the Legislature from the State Department of Social Services. Existing law excepts from those time limits any month in which specified conditions exist.
This bill would require the department to automate a one-time process that allows former CalWORKs recipients excluded from an existing assistance unit due to the formerly applicable 48-month time limit, but who have fewer than 60 countable months of time on aid in CalWORKs, to be added to the existing assistance unit if all information needed to complete an eligibility determination is in the case record and all other eligibility requirements have been met.
Under existing law, when the federal government provides funds for the care of a needy relative with whom a needy child is living, aid to the child for any month includes aid to meet the needs of that relative, except as prescribed. Existing law provides that the parent or parents shall be considered living with the needy child for a period of up to 180 consecutive days of the needy child's absence from the family assistance unit, and the parents shall be eligible for CalWORKs services, but not for the payment of aid, if certain conditions are met, including that the child has been removed from the parents and placed in out-of-home care and the county has determined that the provision of services or homeless assistance benefits is necessary for family reunification.
This bill, beginning July 1, 2022, would increase the 180-day limit to up to 6 months, or a time period as determined by the State Department of Social Services, and would require those eligible parents to also be eligible for the payment of aid and specified childcare services. The bill would require the department to issue comprehensive policy, fiscal, and claiming instructions to the counties before July 1, 2022, and to notify the Legislature when the Statewide Automated Welfare System has automated the bill's provisions. Because the bill would increase the administrative duties of counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
Under existing law, if a family does not include a needy child qualified for aid under CalWORKs, aid is paid to a pregnant child who is 18 years of age or younger at any time after verification of pregnancy, as specified, and aid is paid to a pregnant person for the month in which the birth is anticipated and for the 6-month period immediately prior to the month in which the birth is anticipated, as specified. Existing law requires verification of pregnancy as a condition of eligibility for aid under those provisions. Under existing law, $47 per month is paid to a pregnant person qualified for CalWORKs aid to meet special needs resulting from pregnancy.
This bill would instead require, if a family does not include a needy child qualified for aid under CalWORKs, that aid be paid to any pregnant person as of the date of the application for aid, as specified. The bill would authorize a pregnant person to satisfy the pregnancy verification by means of a sworn statement or, if necessary, a verbal attestation, followed by medical verification, as specified. The bill would require a person who receives aid pursuant to these provisions to report the end of a pregnancy to the county within 30 days and would discontinue this aid at the end of the month following the month in which the person makes that report. The bill would increase the above-described supplement for a pregnant person to $100 per month and would discontinue this supplement at the end of the month following the month in which a person reports the end of their pregnancy. The bill would make the above provisions operative on certain dates in 2022 or when the State Department of Social Services certifies that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation, as specified. Because the bill would result in an increase in CalWORKs eligibility, thus increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law increases the CalWORKs maximum aid payments by 5% commencing March 1, 2014, by an additional 5% commencing April 1, 2015, and by an additional 1.43% commencing October 1, 2016. Existing law specifies a process by which increases may be made to the maximum aid payments depending on projections of revenue and costs by the Department of Finance.
This bill would, effective October 1, 2021, increase the maximum aid grant amounts by an additional 5.3%.
Existing law authorizes current and future grants payable to an assistance unit to be reduced due to prior overpayments, and requires a county to take all reasonable steps necessary to promptly correct any overpayment of supportive services payments to a recipient.
This bill, commencing August 1, 2021, would require that a nonfraudulent CalWORKs overpayment that is established for a current CalWORKs case on or after that date, and for the benefit months of April 2020 to the end of the proclamation of a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, or June 30, 2022, whichever date is sooner, be classified as an administrative error.
Existing law prohibits a county from attempting to recover payments when the outstanding overpayments are less than $250 if the individual is no longer receiving aid under the CalWORKs program, and requires a county to discharge an overpayment if the county determines that the overpayment has been caused by a major systemic error or negligence.
This bill, commencing July 1, 2022, or the date the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation to implement the bill, whichever date is later, except as otherwise specified, would authorize a county to establish an overpayment only if the overpayment occurred within 24 months before the date that the county discovered the overpayment, except in cases involving overpayment due to fraud. The bill would prohibit a county from collecting any portion of a nonfraudulent overpayment that occurred more than 24 months prior to the date the county discovered the overpayment. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt emergency regulations no later than January 1, 2023, and to subsequently promulgate final regulations.
Existing law requires the department to establish, by July 1, 2019, the CalWORKs Outcomes and Accountability Review (Cal-OAR) to facilitate a local accountability system that fosters continuous quality improvement in county CalWORKs programs and in the collection and dissemination by the department of best practices in service delivery. Existing law requires Cal-OAR to consist of performance indicators, a county CalWORKs self-assessment process, and a county CalWORKs system improvement plan. Existing law also finds and declares that county human services agencies are transforming the welfare-to-work process away from a compliance-oriented and work-first model into a modern, science-based, and goal-oriented welfare-to-work model known locally as CalWORKs 2.0.
This bill would require, no later than November 1, 2021, the department to convene and facilitate a Cal-OAR steering committee to make recommendations to the Legislature on how to implement Cal-OAR and CalWORKs 2.0 principles and practices statewide and prioritize recommendations made by the Cal-OAR stakeholder group, as specified.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that the annual Budget Act appropriate state and federal funds in a single allocation to counties for the support of administrative activities undertaken by the counties to provide CalWORKs benefit payments, required work activities, and supportive services. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to work with representatives of county human services agencies and the County Welfare Directors Association to develop recommendations for revising the methodology used for development of the CalWORKs single allocation annual budget.
This bill would require the number of hours per case per month of case work time budgeted for intensive cases to be incrementally increased, as specified, and as of July 1, 2024, be 10 hours.
Existing law establishes the Safety Net Reserve Fund in the State Treasury, and creates within the Safety Net Reserve Fund a Medi-Cal Subaccount and a CalWORKs Subaccount. Existing law requires that fund and those subaccounts to be utilized, upon appropriation, for the purpose of maintaining existing program benefits and services for the Medi-Cal and CalWORKs programs during economic downturns, as specified. Existing law imposes upon the Department of Finance specified duties related to these subaccounts.
This bill would require, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, upon order of the Director of Finance, the Controller to transfer $450,000,000 from the General Fund to the Safety Net Reserve Fund.
Existing federal law, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, establishes a Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund to allocate money to state, tribal, and territorial governments to assist needy families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to use funds allotted to the state from the fund, and appropriated by the Legislature for this purpose in the Budget Act of 2021, to make a flat rate one-time payment to each CalWORKs assistance unit that is an active assistance unit on the date of eligibility, as specified. The bill would require the amount of the one-time payment to be based on the funds available and the most recent caseload data, as determined by the department. The bill would require the department to submit a written report to the Legislature, no later than November 1, 2021, that would include specified information relating to the one-time payments.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
By increasing expenditures for this purpose, this bill would make an appropriation.
Under existing law, the parents of a minor child are responsible for supporting the child. Existing law establishes the Department of Child Support Services, which administers all federal and state laws and regulations relating to child support enforcement obligations. Existing law requires each county to maintain a local child support agency that is responsible for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations, including medical support, enforcing spousal support orders, and determining paternity, as specified.
This bill would, as of January 1, 2023, require a local child support agency to cease enforcement of child support arrearages and otherwise past due amounts owed to the state that the Department of Child Support Services or the local child support agency has determined to be uncollectible, as specified. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to implement these changes by July 1, 2024, and would authorize the department to implement and administer these changes through a child support services letter or similar instruction until regulations are adopted.
Existing law requires each county to maintain a local child support agency that is responsible for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations, including medical support, enforcing spousal support orders, and determining paternity, as specified. Existing law authorizes attorneys employed within the local child support agency to direct, control, and prosecute civil actions and proceedings in the name of the county in support of child support activities of the department and the local child support agency. Existing law authorizes a child support agency to substitute original signatures with any form of electronic signature, as specified.
This bill would specify that a child support agency is authorized to substitute original signatures of the agent of the local child support agency with any form of electronic signature. The bill would also, effective July 1, 2021, authorize a child support agency to substitute any original signatures, including those of the support obligors or obligees, with a printed copy or electronic image of an electronic signature obtained in compliance with certain requirements, as specified. The bill would require the local child support agency that elects to substitute original signatures to maintain the electronic form of the document bearing the original electronic signature until the final disposition of the case and to make it available for review upon the request of the court or any party of the action or proceeding.
Existing law also establishes within the state's child support program a quality assurance and performance improvement program. Existing law provides that the 10 counties with the best performance standards shall receive an additional 5% of the state's share of those counties' collections that are used to reduce or repay aid that is paid under the CalWORKs program. Existing law requires these additional funds received by a county to be used for specified child support-related activities. Existing law suspends the payment of this additional 5% for the 2002–03 to 2020–21 fiscal years, inclusive.
This bill would extend the suspension of the additional 5% payments through the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years.
Existing law requires that the satisfaction of a money judgment for support be credited first against the current month's support, then against the principal amount of the judgment remaining unsatisfied, and then against the accrued interest that remains unsatisfied, except as otherwise provided in specified situations, including support paid for recipients of certain types of public benefits.
This bill would require the Department of Child Support Services to distribute support collections received on or after May 1, 2020, in accordance with specified federal law that requires specified arrearages to be paid to the family, and specified excess amounts to be retained by the state or paid to the federal government, in such a manner as to distribute all support collections to families first to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.
Existing law provides for state-subsidized childcare programs and childcare for recipients of benefits under the CalWORKs program, which is administered by counties. Existing law establishes the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, to be implemented at the discretion of each county, for the purpose of stabilizing foster children with families at the time of placement by providing a time-limited payment or voucher for childcare following the child's placement, or for a child whose parent is in foster care, and by providing the family with a childcare navigator to assist the family in accessing long-term subsidized childcare.
Existing law suspends a specific allocation of funds for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program included in the Budget Act of 2020 on December 31, 2021, unless the Department of Finance makes a specified determination regarding General Fund revenues and expenditures.
This bill would repeal that conditional suspension.
Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes.
This bill would extend eligibility for the IHSS program to individuals who are eligible for state-only funded full-scope Medi-Cal benefits and meet all other IHSS program eligibility criteria. Because counties administer the IHSS program, and this bill would expand IHSS program eligibility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law requires the department to implement a 7% reduction in authorized hours of service to each IHSS recipient, but appropriates funds to fully offset this reduction until December 31, 2021, unless a specified condition applies.
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to authorize an assessment on home care services, including in-home supportive services. Existing law requires the Director of Finance to estimate the total amount of additional funding that would be derived from that assessment and calculate th