Effective October 1, 2022, Senate Bill (SB) 187 grants an eleven percent increase to the CalWORKs Maximum Aid Payment (MAP). This MAP increase remains effective unless there are insufficient funds, which will be determined before October 1 each year.
SB 187 grants an additional ten percent increase to the CalWORKs MAP that is effective until September 30, 2024.
Recipients must be informed of the MAP increase by October 1st. The country welfare department computer systems must have the MAP increase programmed into their system by October 1st, and if not, they must manually issue the benefits increase.
Under SB 380, children who receive child support in an amount more than the CalWORKs grant can opt-out of the CalWORKs case. For some of these cases, the increase in the MAP will increase the CalWORKs payment to more than the child support paid. In those cases, the family can ask to add the child to the CalWORKs case mid-period. If the family does not ask for that mid-period change, the child will be added to the case at their following semi-annual report or annual recertification.
These grant increase are mandatory mid-period county actions. For CalFresh, the CalWORKs increase is considered Verified Upon Receipt, meaning that it will immediately change the CalFresh allotment. (ACL 22-60, July 20, 2022.)