The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has informed counties about changes to CalFresh income exclusions. Effective December 1, 2021, student loans and grants excluded for CalWORKs must also be excluded for CalFresh. The CalWORKs exclusion is all needs-based education grants for undergraduate students, all awards and scholarships for dependent children, any grants when it is verified that the proceeds are not available to meet current needs, and any loans not otherwise excluded that have a written agreement specifying obligation to repay and a repayment plan.
Effective December 1, 2021, payments from CalWORKs approved Guaranteed Income projects and pilots that have any amount of private funding must also be excluded as income for CalFresh. CDSS will identify these projects. In addition, income from projects funded by the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Project will be excluded if CDSS determines that they payments are funded by any amount of non-governmental funding.
Counties must apply these changes to application received on or after December 1, 2021. For ongoing CalFresh households, these income sources must be excluded at the household’s next periodic report, recertification or when voluntarily requested by the ongoing household.
Excluded income is not a mandatory verification unless questionable. To be considered questionable, information on the application must be inconsistent with the applicant’s statements or other information the county has. This decision must be based on the household’s individual circumstances. (ACL 21-137, November 12, 2021, and ACL 21-137E, April 1, 2022.)