This transmits the final regulations amending the CalWORKs restricted account and asset exclusion rule to remove the $5,000 limit, and to add certain property exclusions (IRAs, 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans, and educational savings). Also adds the mandate to do EITC outreach to CalWORKs folks. [Download]

Just in time for the holidays: a new form to make sure that the immediate need payments are the lesser of $200 or the maximum that the applicant is eligible for in the month of application. The form also explains recipients may apply for another immediate need payment in the following month if their regular cash aid payment has not yet been approved, up to a total of $200 in IN payments. [Download]

This Notice “strongly encourages” counties to give CalWORKs recipients the option to receive corrective underpayments that are over $1,500 by check or direct deposit, since the EBT card has a daily limit on the amount of cash a recipient can withdraw from an ATM and clients are only given four free ATM withdrawals each month. CDSS has created a recommended form, CW 2203, that counties may use to inform clients of their options when these large underpayments are established. [Download]

The WTW-AB 98 CalWORKs Subsidized Employment report form is suspended from August 2009 through September 2010, due to the temporary suspension of the AB 98 subsidized employment program in order to implement the subsidized employment provisions of the Emergency Contingent Fund through ARRA. [Download]

The Elementary And Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires requires states to determine the number of children between the ages of 5 and 17 in families that received CalWORKs cash assistance payments exceeding the federal poverty income level in the month of October each year. CWDs are responsible for providing the information on children in families receiving CalWORKs; the CDSS will then coordinate the data. [Download]