CalWORKs

CalWORKs and winter storm disaster

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued a reminder about policy for processing CalWORKs cases for victims and evacuees of state and/or federally declared disasters. Because of the winter storms, Governor Newsom issued statewide Emergency Proclamations affecting Amador, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Nevada, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sierra, Sonoma, Tulare, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Lake, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. In addition, on December 20, 2022, Governor Newsom issued an Emergency Proclamation for Humboldt County due to the effects of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake.  These disasters have made it necessary for some families to evacuate their home counties.

For evacuees who apply for CalWORKs, if the applicant and the county make a good faith effort to obtain verification and are unable to do so, including identity, time on aid, and CalWORKs eligibility factors, the county must accept the evacuee’s statements signed under penalty of perjury in lieu of verification.

When an evacuee applies for CalWORKs, counties must establish that the evacuee was living in a county designated as a federal disaster and/or state-declared emergency zone and ask if the evacuee or anyone else in their family is receiving CalWORKs from that county or another disaster county.

Counties are reminded that COVID-19 flexibilities remain in place and apply to evacuees, including flexibility regarding pregnancy verification, in-person photo identification requirements, and signature requirements.  These flexibilities should allow for effective disaster response.

Disaster evacuees applying for or receiving CalWORKs aid must be informed of their semi-annual and annual reporting responsibilities. Counties must advise evacuees to try to get documentation of eligibility factors impacting for benefits, and to ask for help from the county in getting documentation if they need it.

CalWORKs recipients may be eligible for nonrecurring special needs payments because of emergencies from the fires, such as damage to or loss of shelter or belongings. Nonrecurring special needs funds can be used to repair or replace clothing or household equipment, to provide assistance for damages to the home, or to pay for interim shelter when the AU’s home was destroyed or made uninhabitable or inaccessible. The maximum nonrecurring special needs payment is $600 for each individual incident.

Disaster assistance from federal, state or local government or disaster assistance organizations is excluded from consideration as income.

For CalWORKs applicants, counties are encouraged to offer CalWORKs diversion to evacuees to address their specific crisis or item of need. Applicants in an emergency should be evaluated for Immediate Need Payments. Both applicant and recipient evacuees should be entitled to an exception to the once in twelve months limitation on receiving Homeless Assistance. Recipient evacuees may also be eligible the CalWORKs Housing Support Program.

A written statement from the applicant is sufficient to establish intent to establish residency in California and in the county of application for the foreseeable future. Receipt of benefits at an address outside of California for two months or longer is not apparent evidence of intent to reside outside of California when return to California is prevented by a disaster.

Families who are in an emergency should be evaluated for an immediate need payment.

For income, it is expected that some evacuees will no longer have reasonably anticipated income because of the disaster. For property and resources, counties must consider the applicant’s ability to access, occupy or sell their property at the time of application because of the disaster.

For families temporarily separated because of the disaster, a family member is considered temporary absent if they expect to reunite within one full calendar month. CalWORKs recipients can maintain a home in a different county than the county they are physically residing in if they intend to return to that home within four months.

Most evacuated families will not be able to participate in welfare-to-work activities. Counties should make a good cause determination for evacuated families for nonparticipation in welfare-to-work activities. Counties should also determine if an applicant needs barrier removal services such as mental health services or housing stabilization program services and provide these services as expeditiously as possible.

Counties must maintain the ability for families to apply for Homeless Assistance benefits during normal business hours.  Temporary Homeless Assistance must be issued or denied within the same working day as the request.  Permanent Homeless Assistance must be approved or denied within one business day.

Homeless Assistance can be issued in one lump sum payment for 16 days when homelessness is caused by a declared disaster.  Counties must accept sworn statements of how homeless assistance money is spent, or counties can grant good cause for not providing paper verification such as motel receipts.  Homeless Assistance applications are not required to be made in person or to include a face-to-face interview.  Counties can complete the homeless assistance Statement of Facts on behalf of the family and accept electronic signature or oral attestation.

The CalWORKs Housing Support Program can provide interim housing, including hotels and motels, for disaster evacuees.  CDSS does not limit the number of days the Housing Support Program can cover hotels or motels.

Counties must notify CDSS when they will be closed during normal business hours.  CDSS asks counties to report closures because of a disaster to CDSS as soon as it is safe to do so. (ACWDL, April 3, 2023.)

Addendum — Contra Costa, Riverside, San Diego, and Yolo counties are also now declared disaster counties and are subject to these policies.  (ACWDL. April 27. 2023.)

 

Potential Intentional Program Violation policy

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued a policy about potential Intentiional Program Violations (IPVs).  Counties can only establish nonfraudulent CalWORKs overpayments and CalFresh overissuances for two years prior to the date of discovery.  Any benefits paid more than 24 months prior to the date of discovery cannot be included in a nonfraudulent overpayment or overissuance claim.

A fraudulent overpayment or overissuance claim is a claim caused by an IPV.  An IPV can only be established by an administrative disqualification hearing, a signed administrative disqualification hearing waiver, a criminal court conviction, or a signed disqualification consent agreement.  If a county determines that a claim previously established as nonfraudulent is fraudulent, the county must reclassify the claim as an IPV and issue a new notice.

CDSS has created the potential IPV claim for cases where the county believes there is an IPV, and the claim is beyond the 24-month establishment period.  When the county creates a potential IPV claim, there will be two claims on the case, the nonfraudulent claim and the potential IPV claim.  Collection on the potential IPV claim must be immediately suspended.

IPV claims are limited to six years before the date of discovery.

If a potential IPV claim is substantiated through either criminal prosecution or the administrative disqualification hearing process, the county must change the potential IPV to an IPV.  If a potential IPV is not substantiated through either criminal prosecution or the administrative disqualification hearing process, the county must delete the potential IPV claim.

Starting March 1, 2023, if a county investigation reveals sufficient evidence to refer the case for either criminal prosecution or an administrative disqualification hearing, the county must send a potential IPV informing notice to inform the client of the potential IPV amount beyond the 24-month period. (ACL 23-19, February 2, 2023.)

Time limit exemption for zero basic grant cases.

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The California Department of Social Services has issued a reminder about counting zero basic grant cases toward the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) federal time on aid clock, and CalWORKs state time on aid.  TANF and CalWORKs each have a 60-month time on aid limit.  However, the federal TANF clock and the state CalWORKs time in aid clock can count slightly different months.  The TANF 60-month time limit applies to any months in which “assistance” is received.

Zero basic grant cases do not count toward the TANF time clock.  Zero basic grant cases are: when aid payments are not issued when the grant is under $10, months when a payment is not issued due to a penalty which reduces the payment to zero, the grant is under $10, the grant is $0 because of overpayment recoupment, and the grant is diverted to an employer to offset the recipient’s wages in an on-the-job training program.

By contrast, except for when the grant is under $10, zero basic income cases count towards the CalWORKs time limit.

Nonrecurring, short-term benefits such as homeless assistance do not count toward the TANF time clock.  This means that months where someone receives only short-term benefits such as homeless assistance do not count toward the TANF time clock.

However, special needs payments such as homeless assistance count toward the CalWORKs time clock.  This means that months where someone receives only short-term benefits such as homeless assistance count toward the TANF time clock.  (ACIN I-67-22, October 11, 2022.)

Additional extension of benefits eligibility for Afghan migrants

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has provided guidance about an additional extension of the arrival timeframe for Afghan Humanitarian Parolees and other persons who have left Afghanistan to be eligible for CalWORKs and CalFresh and refugee resettlement benefits.

Afghan Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse and children, are eligible for benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. Persons are Afghan Humanitarian Parolees if they are citizens or national paroled into the United States between July 31, 2021 and September 30, 2023 (an extension of the original cutoff date first from September 30, 2022 and then from December 16, 2022). They are eligible from October 1, 2021 or the date they are paroled in the United States, whichever is later, to March 31, 2023, or the end of parolees’ parole term, whichever is later. Benefits that Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse, children, parents or legal guardians are eligible for are Refugee Cash Assistance, CalWORKs, CalFresh, SSI, Refugee Support Services, and Services for Older Refugees. Counties should redetermine eligibility for benefits when parole has expired or by March 31, 2023, whichever is later.

Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, Special Immigrant Conditional Permanent Residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Lawful Permanent Residents are eligible for public benefits to the same extent as refugees if their status is established between July 31, 2021 and September 30, 2023.

Effective November 21, 2022, Afghan parolees and their families with certain classes of admission are considered work authorized without waiting for their employment authorization. This allows them to enroll in Refugee Cash Assistance employment services. Their unexpired I-94 is sufficient to show employment authorization for 90 days after they are hired.

Afghan Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse, children, parents and legal guardian, who are admitted into the United States between July 31, 2021 and September 30, 2023 are eligible for CalFresh. They are not subject to the five year waiting period for refugees. They are eligible until March 31, 2023.  (ACWDL, January 30, 2023.)

Changes to electronic benefits theft replacement form and policy

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued a new form EBT 2259 for reporting benefits stolen by electronic theft.

CDSS has also changed its policy about electronic theft.  People reporting electronic theft no longer need to contact the electronic benefits transfer vendor prior to submitting the form EBT 2259 to the county.  People no longer are required to file a police report to submit the form EBT 2259 and get replacement benefits.

Counties review the form EBT 2259 to ensure that the form is complete prior to submitting it to CDSS.  If the claim is for scamming benefits (people being tricked to give out the PIN to their EBT card), the county decides if the claim is consistent with typical scamming practices.  If it is not, the claim should be referred for investigation.

If the theft report is made timely (which is within 10 days of the theft, and submitting the EBT 2259 within 90 days), the county has 10 business days to issue benefit replacement.   The county has a duty to assist persons with the report within 10 business days.  If the county cannot process the form within 10 business days, it must issue replacement benefits.

If the county refers the case for investigation, the case can be pended for up to 25 calendar days.  (ACL 23-13, January 27, 2023.)

Extension of benefits eligibility for Afghan migrants

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has provided guidance extension of the arrival timeframe for Afghan Humanitarian Parolees and other persons who have left Afghanistan to be eligible for CalWORKs and CalFresh and refugee resettlement benefits.

Afghan Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse and children, are eligible for benefits and services to the same extent as refugees.  Persons are Afghan Humanitarian Parolees if they are citizens or national paroled into the United States between July 31, 2021 and December 16, 2022 (an extension of the original cutoff date of September 30, 2022.).  They are eligible from October 1, 2021 or the date they are paroled in the United States, whichever is later, to March 31, 2023, or the end of parolees’ parole term, whichever is later.  Benefits that Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse, children, parents or legal guardians are eligible for are Refugee Cash Assistance, CalWORKs, CalFresh, SSI, Refugee Support Services, and Services for Older Refugees.  Counties should redetermine eligibility for benefits when parole has expired or by March 31, 2023, whichever is later.

Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, Special Immigrant Conditional Permanent Residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Lawful Permanent Residents are eligible for public benefits to the same extent as refugees if their status is established between July 31, 2021 and December 16, 2022.

Effective November 21, 2022, Afghan parolees and their families with certain classes of admission are considered work authorized without waiting for their employment authorization.  This allows them to enroll in Refugee Cash Assistance employment services.  Their unexpired I-94 is sufficient to show employment authorization for 90 days after they are hired.

Afghan Humanitarian Parolees, and their spouse, children, parents and legal guardian, who are admitted into the United States between July 31, 2021 and December 16, 2022 are eligible for CalFresh.  They are not subject to the five year waiting period for refugees. They are eligible until March 31, 2023.

CDSS has provided an updated list of acceptable verification and an updated chart of acceptable verification.  (ACWDL, December 14, 2022.)