THIS ACL HAS BEEN SUPERCEEDED BY ACL 19-102, summarized here.
The California Department of Social Services has issued instruction regarding SB 726. Effective July 1, 2019, SB 726 will increase the threshold for pursing CalWORKs overpayments and implement an expungement process for CalWORKs overpayments.
Previously, counties could not demand repayment of non-fraudulent CalWORKs overpayments that were less than $35. Effective July 1, 2019, this overpayment threshold increases to $250. The overpayment threshold applies only to closed cases. When the case is active, counties must pursue collection regardless of the amount of the overpayment. If the case involves a fraud allegation, the overpayment threshold does not apply.
If an overpayment is being repaid in installments, counties must cease collection when the outstanding balance falls under $250. When there are multiple overpayments, the $250 threshold applies to each overpayment individually.
Effective July 1, 2019, counties must cease collection on non-fraudlent CalWORKs overpayments if the responsible individual has not received CalWORKs for 36 consecutive months or longer. If a former recipient with an outstanding overpayment claim reapplies and becomes CalWORKs recipient within the 36 month time frame, the county will resume collection of the overpayment. Overpayment discharge also applies to repayment agreements and civil judgment agreements. When there are multiple overpayments, the 36 month time frame applies to each overpayment individually. The 36 month time frame applies retroactively to non-fraudulent overpayments outstanding on July 1, 2019.
The 36 month discharge time frame does not when there is a pending fraud investigation unless the investigation is inconclusive or finds no fraud was committed. The discharge time frame does not apply to overpayments established before December 1, 1996 because federal law requires collection of those overpayments.
In addition, mass overpayments, which are defined as an action or inaction that impacts either eight percent of the county CalWORKs caseload or more than 1,000 CalWORKs assistance units, whichever is greater, must be reported to CDSS. After reporting, CDSS will determine if the mass overpayment was caused by negligence or fraud by the county, or a major system error by the state or the county. CDSS will then determine if those overpayments can be discharged. (ACL 19-19, February 21, 2019.)