AB 1941: State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled: supplemental aid.

Existing law establishes the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (SSP), which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act.

Under existing law, benefit payments under SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient. The state SSP payment is the amount required, when added to the nonexempt income and SSI benefits available to the recipient, to provide the maximum benefit payment. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2022, requires the amount of aid paid under SSP that is in effect on December 31, 2021, less the federal benefit portion received, to be increased by a percentage increase that the State Department of Social Services and the Department of Finance determines can be accomplished with $291,287,000, and, subject to an appropriation in the Budget Act of 2023, requires an additional grant increase commencing January 1, 2024, subject to the same calculations, notifications, and implementation as the first increase. Existing law continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP.

This bill would, commencing January 1, 2023, and each year thereafter, if there is a surplus in the state budget and subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require the amount of SSP aid paid, in effect on December 31 of the previous year less the federal benefit portion received, to be increased by $600 if there was a surplus in the state budget for that fiscal year. a recipient of aid paid under SSP to receive a monthly supplemental payment in the amount of $600 for the following calendar year. The bill would provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing these provisions.