Effective July 1, 2015, the CalWORKs Minimum Basic Standard of Adequate Care (MBSAC) increased by 2.54%. The MBSAC is the maximum amount of income an assistance unit can have, after income deductions, and be eligible for CalWORKs. The increase is the cost of living increase required by Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11453. This cost of living increase also increased the Income-In-Kind (IIK) level by 2.54%. These increases also apply to Refugee Cash Assistance, Entrant Cash Assistance and Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program benefits. The California Department of Social Services issued a chart showing the new MBSAC and IIK amounts.
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
CalWORKs
School attendance penalty repealed
Effective January 1, 2015, the school attendance penalty for children under age 16 is repealed. Previously, if a child under age 16 was not regularly attending school, the CalWORKs household was penalized by removing all adults in the assistance unit from the grant. AB 2383 amended Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11253.5 to repeal this penalty. As a result, county welfare departments can no longer require families to provide proof of school attendance.
If a 16 or 17 year old is deemed a chronic truant by the school district or a county School Attendance Review Board (SARB), then the needs of that child are not considered in determining the family’s CalWORKs grant. Exceptions to this rule include when there is good cause for non-attendance, when any member of the household is eligible for the family stabilization program and when the child, parent or caretaker is complying with requirements from a SARB, probation department or district attorney. A child whose needs are not considered in computing the family’s grant is eligible for services that may lead to school attendance and can sign a welfare-to-work plan to attend school (with no minimum number of participation hours for that plan).
Penalties imposed prior to January 1, 2015 on children under age 16 should have been lifted effective January 1, 2015. Counties were directed to review all cases of school attendance penalties for 16 and 17 year olds.
Sanctioned adults are eligible for stage 1 child care
Following substantial advocacy by the Child Care Law Center, CDSS has clarified that adults in CalWORKs sanction status can be eligible for Stage 1 child care. Under MPP Section 42-721.41, sanctioned adults are eligible for child care when the client is in the process of curing a sanction or during the months in sanction the client is working or participating in a county-approved program activity, which are activities in the assigned as part of the a welfare-to-work plan or activities necessary to accept or retain employment. Sanctioned adults in a cure plan remain in Stage 1 child care. Sanctioned adults performing an approvable activity should be assessed for transfer to Stage 2 child care.
CDSS also reiterated that clients in sanction status can request to cure the sanction by entering into a plan to cure the sanction and performing the activity stated on the cure plan up to a maximum of 30 days, whichever is shorter.
CDSS directs counties to discontinue use of promissory notes for overpayment collection
Acknowledging that inclusion of promissory notes along with CalWORKs overpayment notices of action constituted an unlawful demand in violation of its regulations (MPP Section 44-351.1), CDSS directed counties to stop sending such agreements to reimburse. Recipients may still voluntarily request a reimbursement agreement, which must be in writing and clearly indicate that repayment is voluntary. CDSS further instructed counties to begin using a new form, CW 2217 “CalWORKs Request for Voluntary Repayment,” which they may provide upon request as long as the recipient has asked if he or she may voluntarily repay, the overpayment was already explained to the recipient, the county did not initiate or request the repayment, and the recipient understands he or she may suspend the repayment at any time. ACL 15-13.
AB 1614 codifies existing practices and establishes new requirements for EBT program
CDSS has published instructions to local county welfare departments to assure compliance with recently enacted AB 1614 (2014). Its provisions codify a range of established practices in California’s EBT program, the default payment mechanism for CalFresh, CalWORKs, Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), and several other state-administered cash programs, as well as some local county general assistance programs. AB 1614 also establishes a set of new requirements to make certain elements of the EBT program easier to use by recipients, including more ready access to the recipient’s EBT account information. Among the requirements now codified in AB 1614 are:
- 24-hour recipient access by toll-free telephone so they can hear a listing of their last ten EBT transactions, with the option to request by telephone to have a copy of their transaction history detail for the past two months mailed to them;
- Local county welfare offices must make a recipient’s EBT transaction history available to them within 10 business days of such a request, at no cost to the recipient;
- The EBT system must establish the capacity to deliver “system outage alerts” to recipients, to inform them when the system is not functioning or is expected not to function for more than one hour between 6am and midnight during any 24-hour period;
- Recipients must be informed by the county welfare department where they can use their EBT cards to withdraw benefits without incurring a fee, charge, or surcharge;
- If a local county welfare department makes direct deposit available to its employees, then it must also make direct deposit available to its CalWORKs recipients.
Providing recipients with information about how to access their EBT benefits without surcharge fees is no small matter. CDSS confirms in this ACL that “almost two-thirds of ATM withdrawals made by EBT recipients incur surcharge fees.” (Federal law prohibits surcharge fees for CalFresh transactions.) CDSS also notes that recipients can access the MoneyPass website (or its mobile apps, linked there) to locate ATMs that provide surcharge-free transactions. ACL 15-39 (April 21, 2015).
Updated County instructions about verification of Social Security numbers and income
In July 2014, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the availability of SSA benefit verification letters and other SSA verification processes, via its My Social Security site. CDSS has now issued updated instructions (along with a few pointed reminders) to counties about the changes in the SSA processes for verification of Social Security account information, and how they relate to largely unchanged CDSS requirements for a client’s submission of Social Security numbers and income information. The specifics for verification of Social Security account information vary somewhat in the CalWORKs, Medi-Cal and and CalFresh programs, highlighted here. There is language here that is horatory but still helpful to the client’s cause, where CDSS reminds counties that “the CWD shall make every effort to assist the individual in obtaining the documents necessary to submit a complete application for a SSN card” and “strongly recommends that counties ensure that the forms they are using are adequate in providing all necessary information to clients.” ACIN I-24-15 (April 13, 2015).