California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) and CalFresh Income Exemptions
Overview
Assembly Bill (AB 120) Chapter 43, Statutes of 2023, amended Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 11157 to require that all guaranteed income (GI) payments made to CalWORKs applicants and recipients be exempt from consideration as income and resources when determining CalWORKs eligibility and grant amounts. Please refer to All County Letter (ACL) 24-09, issued Feb. 28, 2024, for more information.
Since all GI payments are now exempt from consideration as income and resources for CalWORKs, the County Welfare Department (CWD) must determine whether the GI payments contain any amount of non-governmental funding before determining whether to exempt the payments from consideration as income for CalFresh.
Direct payments from GI programs are exempt from income calculations for CalFresh eligibility determinations when the GI payments are exempted by CalWORKs and contain any amount of non-governmental funds. Payments from GI programs that do not contain any amount of non-governmental funds are not exempt for CalFresh, even if the GI payment is exempted by CalWORKs. For more information about exempting GI income for CalFresh purposes, please refer to All County Letter (ACL) 23-60, issued July 5, 2023.
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) previously developed an income exemption request process for CWDs to submit requests for non-State-funded GI direct payments to be exempt from consideration as income for purposes of determining CalWORKs and CalFresh eligibility and benefit amounts. However, with the release of All County Letter (ACL) 24-09, issued Feb. 28, 2024, this process is now obsolete. The associated All County Information Notice (ACIN) I-35-22, and ACIN I-82-22 are also obsolete.
Counties may wish to create a pathway for GI programs to self-identify to make the verification process less burdensome for applicants and recipients of CalWORKs and CalFresh. An example of a
GI Program Self-Identification form is provided here as a modifiable guide for counties that would like to provide an alternate pathway for GI Program verification.
State-Funded GI Pilot Program
The State-funded GI Pilot Program includes seven pilot sites that serve California residents exiting extended foster care and pregnant individuals. Pursuant to the statute for that program (Welfare & Institutions Code (WIC) Section 18997), State-funded GI pilot program payments are exempt from consideration as income and resources when determining CalWORKs eligibility and grant amounts. They are also exempt from consideration as income when determining CalFresh eligibility, as all of the approved projects include some amount of non-governmental funding, as required for the exemption. For more information, please refer to All County Welfare Directors Letter (ACWDL) dated July 21, 2023.