AB 2152: CalFresh: able-bodied adults without dependents.

Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met specified work participation requirements. Existing law also exempts certain adults from the ABAWD time limit, including persons determined to be medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment, which are persons who receive temporary or permanent disability benefits issued by governmental or private sources, who are obviously mentally or physically unfit for employment, or who provide a statement from specified appropriate medical personnel stating that the person is physically or mentally unfit for employment.

This bill would require the department, in consultation with public health officials and CalFresh advocates, among others, by July 1, 2019, to define food insecurity for purposes of the bill, develop a tool that would screen for food insecurity and other basic needs deprivation, and to issue guidance that includes a copy of the screening tool and instructions for verifying when a person is unfit for employment following a screening that has determined that he or she is food insecure or deprived of their basic needs. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for CalFresh, it would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.