Disaster CalFresh income limits

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued the Disaster CalFresh income limits for the period October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020.  Disaster CalFresh allows people living in federally declared disaster area who had not been receiving CalFresh to be eligible for CalFresh because of the disaster.

CDSS has a chart of the new income levels.  The new Disaster CalFresh income limit is $1,777 for a household of 1, $2,146 for household of 2, $2,514 for a household of 3, $2,893 for a household of 4, with amounts increasing as household size increases according to the chart.  (ACIN I-63-19, October 14, 2019.)

CalWORKs additional income exemptions

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding AB 807 that exempts awards and scholarships provided by a private or public entity to, or on behalf of, a dependent child, and income earned from temporary work related to the census.

Prior to AB 807, awards or scholarships provided for academic or extracurricular achievement were exempt from being considered income.  Now any award or scholarship provided to a dependent child is exempt from being considered income for CalWORKs.

Prior to AB 807, income from census work was counted for CalWORKs if it was reasonably anticipated.  Now, any census-related income or stipend earned during the year preceding a census and the year of a census is not income for CalWORKs.

Counties must implement these changes manually until the changes are automated.  (ACL 19-106, November 12, 2019.)

IHSS overtime exceptions for extraordinary circumstances

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding exceptions from the IHSS provider overtime limits for extraordinary circumstances.  In general exceptions from the overtime limits are available if (1) the recipient has complex medical or behavioral needs that must be met by a provider who lives in the same home as the recipient; (2) The recipient lives in a rural or remote area where available providers are limited or (3)–The recipient is unable to hire another provider who speaks the same language as the recipient.  (See ACL 18-31.)  These criteria are called the Exemption 2 criteria.

When there is a request for an Exemption 2 overtime exemption, the county must accept the request regardless of whether it appeals the provider will be determined eligible.  When a verbal request is made, the county should provide the individual with a form SOC 2305.

Counties can rely on information in CMIPS but should not deny an Exemption 2 request based only on information in CMIPS.  Counties must talk to the provider, the recipients, the assigned social worker and any other active providers to determine whether the exemption requirements are met.

Counties must document the justification for an Exemption 2 determination in CMIPS including the criteria evaluated, why the determination was made, the attempts made by the recipients to hire additional providers and why those attempts were not viable, and a description of the assistance provided by the county in attempting to identify an additional provider.

Recipients are not required to exhaust all options for hiring an additional provider.  Individuals are required to make reasonable attempts to hire additional providers.

The Exemption 2 policies are separate from and do not supersede any other IHSS program rules.  Although changes in need may impact the continued need for an overtime exemption, requests regarding IHSS needs should be evaluated using IHSS program rules.  For example, a request for reassessment should not be denied because there is an overtime exemption.  The receipient’s needs should be reevaluated, and then any impact on the overtime exemption should be determined.

For minor recipients with a parent provider, the county should first evaluate whether the parent is an eligible provider, and if so, then evaluate eligibility for an overtime exemption.

The provider can reapply for an Exemption 2 at any time.  However, to be reevaluated, there must be a change in the provider or recipient’s circumstances which has the potential to make a previously ineligible provider eligible for an overtime exemption. County staff should contact the individual within 10 days to determine the change in circumstances.

If the county determines that there has not been a significant change in circumstances, the county should not accept the application and should send a SOC 2325 form.

An Exemption 2 is terminated if the provider with an exemption is assigned to a new recipient’s case, terminated from the case of one of the recipients included in the exemption, or the recipient included in the exemption is terminated from IHSS.

Cases approved for an Exemption 2 should be reevaluated annually.  (ACL 19-100, October 29, 2019.)

CalFresh disaster response notices and replacement methodology

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued new disaster response notices and an overview of the replacement benefit methodology.

CDSS has issued a new CF 303 form to request replacement CalFresh benefits.  When a food loss occurs, a household can request replacement of benefits used to purchase food that was lost.  A household has 10 days from the date the food was destroyed to report the loss.  If the county does not receive the CF 303 form within 10 days of the date the food was destroyed, no replacement benefits will be issued.  It is possible that an entire county or specific zip codes codes will be approved for a timely reporting waiver which will extend to the time to report food loss for up to 30 days from the date of the disaster.

After a household contacts the county to report the loss, the county must provide the CF 303 as soon as possible.  The form can be provided in person, or by mail if an electronic version is not available to the household.  The signed form can be returned in person, by mail, by fax or through the household’s online benefits portal.

Prior to issuing replacement benefits, the county must verify the loss. This can be done by collateral contacts, documentation from a community agency or a home visit.  The county can delay or deny replacement for up to seven days if available documentation indicates the request is questionable or fraudulent.

Maximum replacement is one month of benefits.  Counties determine on a case-by-case basis whether to provide full or partial replacement.  A recommended method for determining the amount of replacement benefits is to determine the daily issuance amount and multiply that by the number of days between the issuance and the disaster.

For power outages, replacement is 70 percent of the calculated amount because the United States Department of Agriculture determined that 30 percent of food purchased is not perishable and therefore would not need to be replaced.

Individual disaster supplements are issued only during approved application periods for areas that have received a Presidential Declaration of Disaster.  The household must submit a CF 303 form during the Disaster CalFresh application period.  When counties find a household eligible for a disaster supplement, they must issue the benefit within three days, or no more than seven days of the request is deemed questionable.  The disaster supplement amount is the maximum benefit amount for the household size minus the actual monthly allotment for the household.

CDSS also revised the CF 390 form that is used to approve or deny Disaster CalFresh benefits.  (ACL 19-95, September 19, 2019.)

CalWORKs eligibility for disaster victims and evacuees

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued a reminder about regulations an policies for processing CalWORKs applications and documents on behalf of disaster victims and evacuees.

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, the county must accept the evacuee’s statements signed under penalty of perjury in lieu of verification.

When an individual or family displaced by fires 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 encouraged to offer CalWORKs diversion to evacuees to address their specific crisis or item of need.

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

For new applicants, counties should pay special attention to homeless assistance, including that evacuees are entitled to an exception to the once in twelve months limitation, and to eligibility for immediate need payments.  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.  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.

Evacuated families should make a good cause determination 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.  (All County Welfare Directors Letter, October 29, 2019.)

IHSS overpayment recovery

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued instructions about recovery of overpayments in the In Home Supportive Service Program (IHSS).  An overpayment includes any payments to a recipient to purchase IHSS services in an amount to which the recipient was not entitled.  Counties must recover the full amount of IHSS overpayments.  However, prior to initiating overpayment recovery, counties must confirm there has been a conviction for fraud against the IHSS program.  Once a fraud conviction has been established, counties can proceed with overpayment recovery.

CDSS has issued two new notices of action, NA 1284 for recipient fraud conviction and NA 1283 for advance pay recipient fraud conviction.  (ACL 19-81, August 8, 2019.)