California had three federal waivers for CalFresh because of COVID-19. The federal waiver for not conducting CalFresh initial application and recertification interviews has not been extended. As a result, counties must begin conducting initial application and recertification interviews on September 1, 2020.
The federal waivers for not conducting a face-to-face interview even on request of the applicant, and not requiring specific recording equipment for telephonic signatures are extended until September 30, 2020. For details about these waivers, see ACWDL April 2, 2020, summarized here, and ACWDL May 28, 2020, summarized here. (ACWDL, August 19, 2020.)