Existing federal law provides for the federal 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 federal law, through the federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) , provides for short-term food assistance benefits to families suffering in the wake of a major disaster. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the county human services agency, if the President of the United States issues a major disaster declaration for individual assistance, to request to operate D-SNAP for the regions affected by the major disaster. Existing uncodified law, in the event of a declaration by the Governor or the President of the United States of a major disaster, continuously appropriates to the department from the General Fund an amount necessary to cover specified costs relating to the administration of disaster food assistance services, but not to exceed $300,000 per disaster declaration.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, and water corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
This bill would require electrical corporations, gas corporations, water corporations, and local publicly owned electric utilities to respond to data requests from the department, and would require the commission to establish any memoramdum of understanding or other data sharing agreements necessary to direct those utilities to provide data to the department to maximize food assistance, as provided. The bill would require the department to maximize the amount of assistance requested and received through D-SNAP and all other federally funded nutrition assistance, including utilizing that provided utility data, in order to timely seek automated mass replacement of specified federally funded nutrition assistance programs. The bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature related to food assistance, as specified.
This bill would require those utilities to have a dedicated point of contact for the department and to establish any memorandum of understanding or other data sharing agreement necessary to provide the requested data. The bill would require the commission to provide technical assistance to the department, including technical assistance to support the above-described report. Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, and by imposing additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

Statutes affected:
AB 777: 336 PUC
02/18/25 - Introduced: 336 PUC
04/03/25 - Amended Assembly: 336 PUC