The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance about new policies for overissuances in the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP). CFAP provides state funded food benefits for certain non-citizens who are ineligible for CalFresh because of their immigration status. Effective October 1, 2025, CFAP will expand to cover persons age 55 or older regardless of their immigration status.
Beginning October 1, 2025, for mixed households, that is, households with some members who receive CalFresh and other who receive CFAP, CalFresh and CFAP overissuances must be calculated, established, and collected separately from each other. Counties must create separate recovery accounts, and must send separate overissuance notices for each program. Counties must apply the current overissuance collection threshold to each claim. Collection will be at the appropriate rate (5% or $10 for administrative errors, 10% for inadvertent household errors) for the CalFresh and CFAP claims individually.
Effective October 1, 2025, benefit reduction to collect an overissuance must correspond to the program. CalFresh benefits will not be used to recoup a CFAP overissuance and visa versa. If a household that has collection by benefit reduction changes from CalFresh to CFAP or visa versa, the household must sign a new repayment agreement to change the source of recoupment.
Effective October 1, 2025, counties must submit CFAP overissuances to the Franchise Tax Board for collection. However, if the current or former CFAP household member does not have a Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), counties do not submit the overissuance to the Franchise Tax Board. (ACL 23-73, September 6, 2023.)