CalFresh / SNAP

Changes to CalFresh Notices of Action

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued changes to three CalFresh Notices of Action: the Notice of Approval (CF 377.1), the Notice of Denial or Pending Status (CF 377.1A), and the Notice of Change for Semi-Annual Reporting Households (CF 377.4 SAR).

All three forms have been revised to 1) add a budget, 2) an explanation of both CalFresh and the California Food Assistance Program (food benefits for certain non-citizens who are lawfully in the United States but are ineligible for CalFresh because of immigration status), 3) a non-discrimination statement, and 4) a new denial reason that the applicant is ineligible for both CalFresh and the California Food Assistance Program.  Applicants who are found to be ineligible for CalFresh must be evaluated for California Food Assistance Program eligibility before being denied.

The CF 377.1 and CF 377.4 SAR have been revised to add a statement of the amount of the household’s Income Reporting Threshold, that is, the income level above which income changes must be reported in between semi-annual report or annual recertification.

The CF 377.1 has been revised to include a list of eligible persons, a list of individuals found to be ineligible, and the reasons for their ineligibility.

Automation is expected within 12 months of the release of this letter, but no later than October 1, 2025.  Counties must begin using the new revised notices when automation is completed. (ACL 23-79, September 29, 2023.)

Changes to CalFresh Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents time limit policy

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California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding changes to the CalFresh Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) time limit policy.  These changes implement the federal Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

Under existing policy, CalFresh recipients age 18 to 49 who are able bodied, do not have dependent children, and do not meet the criteria for an exemption are limited to three months of benefits in a 36 month period unless the recipient meets the ABAWD work requirement, qualifies for an additional three months of benefits, receives a discretionary exemption, or lives in a county or an area that has a waiver.  Current federal law allows discretionary exemptions for 12 percent of the state annual CalFresh caseload.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 increases the age of those subject to the ABAWD rules to 50 effective September 1, 2023, 52 effective October 1, 2023, and 54 effective October 1, 2024.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 also adds exemptions for individuals experiencing homelessness, veterans, and foster youth age 24 or younger who were in foster care on their 18th birthday.  The new exemptions are effective September 1, 2023.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 reduces the number of discretionary from 12 percent of the caseload, to eight percent of the caseload.

Beginning September 1, 2023, the new exemptions must be applied at initial certification, recertification, and mid-period if a voluntary reports information that qualifies for one of the new exemptions.  Counties must screen for and document ABAWD time limit exemptions in the case file.

Verification of ABAWD exemptions is only required when information is questionable.  The county must support households in obtaining verification and must accept any reasonable documentary evidence provided by the household.

California currently has a statewide ABAWD time limit waiver through October 31, 2024.  However, counties must continue to identify ABAWDs, screen for exemptions, inform households of the ABAWD rules, provide the CalFresh Informational Notice, and track ABAWD data.  (ACL 23-80, September 21, 2023.)

Changes to CalFresh electronic theft replacement policy

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California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding changes to the CalFresh electronic theft replacement policy.  These changes are effective December 1, 2023.

CalFresh recipients are no longer required to report electronic theft to EBT Customer Service or the county within 10 days of the theft.  CalFresh recipients must file the EBT 2259 Report of Electronic Theft form with the county within 90 calendar days of the theft.  CalFresh recipients who had there benefits electronically stolen by scamming, that is, by getting tricked into disclosing their PIN, no longer need to also complete the EBT 2259A form.

The county or EBT Customer Service must immediately deactivate and replace an EBT card when the household reports theft.

CalFresh recipients who lose benefits to electronic theft can receive up to two months of replacement benefits for each countable replacement of electronic theft.  A countable replacement is each overall sequence of electronic theft transactions, regardless of how many transactions are involved.

A household can only receive two instances of electronic theft replacement each fiscal year (October 1 to September 30).  Replacements prior to December 1, 2023 do not count toward this limit.

The county has 10 business days from receipt of the EBT 2259 form to process the claim.

Automation of electronic theft claims, including availability of the EBT 2259 form on BenefitsCal, is expected by March 2024.

CalFresh recipients may be eligible for retroactive replacement of CalFresh benefits electronically stolen between October 1, 2022 and November 30, 2023.  To file a retroactive claim, CalFresh recipients must complete the revised EBT 2259 form no later than February 29, 2024.  Retroactive replacements are available if the cardholder was denied replacement benefits for not meeting the previous 10 day filing requirement, the cardholder only got one month of replacement benefits, but more than one month of benefits was electronically stolen, or the cardholder did not previously file an EBT 2259 form.  Retroactive claims are subject to the to countable replacements per fiscal year limit.

The county has 30 days to process retroactive claims and issue replacement benefits.  The county cannot require issuing a replacement EBT card.

Counties can no longer deny replacement benefits based on the dollar amount of a claim or the number of previous claims.  Counties must consider all facts of a claim to determine if an investigation is appropriate.  Counties can no longer delay replacement of benefits unless the county believes the claim itself to be fraudulent.  If the investigation determines that the claim is fraudulent, the county can pursue appropriate administrative or criminal actions.

(ACL 23-92, November 6, 2023.)

Treatment of income from Guaranteed Income Pilot Programs for various program

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Payments issued under the State Funded Guaranteed Income (GI) Pilot Program are exempt from being considered income and resource for various state and local benefit and assistance programs. There are seven pilot programs to support former foster youth and or pregnant individuals. This CDSS guidance only applies to State Funded Guaranteed Income (GI) Pilot Programs.

Cal Fresh: GI payments will not count as income but may count as resources.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD): HUD denied a waiver that would exempt payments from determinations. HUD did provide a list of options that may exempt GI.

Medical and Children’s Health Insurance Program: The federal government gave approval to disregard payments from a California pilot GI project as income for 12 months for Non-Magi eligibility. Medi-Cal will no longer count resources as an eligibility determination as of January 1,2024. Former foster youth are eligible for Medi-Cal regardless of income.

Refugee Cash Assistance: GI payments will not count as income or resources.

Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: The Administration of Children and Families may approve a GI exemption for individual’s tribes through an amendment to a tribes Tribal Family Assistance Plan

Women Infants and Children (WIC): If the person is currently enrolled in Medi-Cal, CalWORKs or Cal Fresh no income assessment is needed because participants in those programs are categorically eligible for WIC. If a WIC recipient is not enrolled in one of those programs, GI income may impact eligibility.

GI payments are exempt from all state benefit or assistance programs. This includes but is not limited to Assistance Dog Special Allowance, CalWORKs, Cash Assistance Programs for Immigrants, Trafficking and Crime Assistance Programs (TCVAP), California Food Assistance Program, and Childcare and Development Programs.

GI payments received under the pilot program cannot consider income or resources for any local befit or assistance program. This includes but is not limited to. General Assistance and General Relief (GA/GR).  (ACWDL, July 21, 2023.)

Withdrawing state hearing requests

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California Department of Social Services (CDSS) State Hearings Division (SHD) has issued instructions regarding withdrawing of a state hearing request.  A claimant or the Authorized Representative can withdraw a hearing request any time before a decision is issued.

A withdrawal can be unconditional or conditional.  An unconditional withdrawal is a complete retraction of the hearing request without conditions.  There are three ways to unconditionally withdraw a hearing request.  A claimant can request an unconditional withdrawal in the ACMS computer system if they have an account.  A claimant can submit a request to unconditionally withdraw their hearing by mail, fax or email.  A claimant can submit a verbal request to unconditionally withdraw their hearing request using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system or by telephone.  SHD will send a letter to the claimant confirming the unconditional withdrawal request.

The opposing party may be aware that the claimant wants to unconditionally withdraw their hearing request.  If the opposing party tells SHD that the claimant or their Authorized Representative wants to unconditionally withdraw a hearing request, SHD will contact the clamant to confirm their intent to unconditionally withdraw their hearing request. If the claimant has any questions, SHD will tell the claimant to talk to the opposing party.  If the claimant or Authorized Representative confirms that they want to unconditionally withdraw the hearing request, SHD will enter the withdrawal in ACMS and will send the claimant a letter confirming the unconditional withdrawal.

A conditional withdrawal is a retraction of the hearing request based on the opposing party’s agreement to certain actions to resolve the case.  A conditional withdrawal must be in writing signed by the claimant or their Authorized Representative.

SHD will accept any conditional withdrawal request that is submitted by mail, fax, email, text, IVR, phone, or uploaded to ACMS, that includes written terms and is signed by the opposing party and the claimant.  These methods are considered to be a valid electronic signature.

A claimant or Authorized Representative can confirm a conditional withdrawal by phone with SHD.  The opposing party must contact the claimant to confirm the agreement.  The opposing party cannot rely on a telephonic signature unless they have gotten the claimant’s consent.  If the opposing party parts gets consent, they must upload the terms to ACMS.  SHD will then contact the claimant to confirm the terms.

The claimant or Authorized Representative can use the SHD IVR to state the terms of a conditional withdrawal.  If the opposing party has their own IVR, it can upload a recording of the terms to ACMS.  The agreement must state that the parties complete all terms within 30 days.

If the case has multiple opposing parties, all parties must consent to the conditional withdrawal.

When a case is withdrawn, SHD will notify all parties that the hearing request has been dismissed.

If the claimant or Authorized Representative does not appear at the hearing and a conditional withdrawal has not been processed, SHD will dismiss the case.

A party can withdraw a rehearing request any time before SHD acts on it.  After a rehearing request has been granted, the claimant can withdraw it with the approval of the Chief Administrative Law Judge.  The parties can submit a conditional withdrawal to resolve the case after rehearing is granted.  SHD will review the terms to ensure that all issues in the rehearing are addressed, and then will forward the request to the Chief Administrative Law Judge for approval.  (ACL 23-82, September 19, 2023.)

 

CalFresh Elderly Simplified Application

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California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued the new CalFresh Elderly Simplified Application, form CF 485.  The CF 485 is to be used by CalFresh applicants who are eligible for the Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP).  CalFresh households are eligible for ESAP if all household members are age 60 or older, and/or are people with disabilities, and the household has no earned income.

ESAP eligible household are not required to use the CF 485 form.  They can use any CalFresh application form and still be eligible for ESAP benefits such as extended certification period with no semi-annual reporting.

As with any other CalFresh application, the only information required to submit the CF 485 is name, address, and signature.

The CF 485 form must be available in the county welfare department office, and upon request.  The CF 485 is only a paper application and is not available in BenefitsCal.  (ACL 23-85, October 10, 2023.)