Existing federal law establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county.
Existing state law authorizes the State Department of Social Services to identify data-sharing opportunities with other state and local public entities for the purposes of improving the administration of CalFresh, increasing CalFresh participation, and measuring the impact of CalFresh, among other purposes. Existing law authorizes public entities, to the extent permitted by federal law, to share data with the department for these purposes.
This bill would instead authorize the department to identify data-sharing opportunities with only other state public entities for the purposes of improving the administration of CalFresh, among other things, and would limit the information that may be disclosed to information that is necessary for conducting outreach opportunities, facilitating enrollment in public benefits, and measuring the impact of those efforts. The bill would also exclude public entities related to employment and financial well-being from the entities authorized to share data with the department.

Statutes affected:
AB 593: 18901.59 WIC
02/12/25 - Introduced: 18901.59 WIC
03/24/25 - Amended Assembly: 18901.59 WIC
05/01/25 - Amended Assembly: 18901.59 WIC