Existing law requires the Office of Systems Integration within the California Health and Human Services Agency to implement a statewide automated welfare system, known as the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS), for various public assistance programs, including the CalWORKs program, CalFresh, and the Medi-Cal program. Under existing law, among other duties, the state is consolidating existing consortia systems into the single CalSAWS.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish and supervise the Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Legal Immigrants (CAPI), which provides cash assistance to aged, blind, and disabled legal immigrants who are not citizens of the United States, as specified. Existing law establishes the state-funded Trafficking and Crime Victim Assistance Program (TCVAP), which provides critical benefits and services to noncitizen victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes. Existing law also requires the department, after setting aside state administrative funds, to allocate social services funds derived from appropriated federal funds and federally targeted assistance to eligible counties. Existing law requires these funds, known as Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), to be used by the county, pursuant to a plan developed by the county, to provide services to refugees that lead to successful self-sufficiency and social integration for the refugees.

This bill would require CalSAWS to accept and process applications for CAPI, TCVAP, and RCA. The bill would require a county social services department to post on its internet website general information identifying available immigrant benefit services, including, but not limited to, those programs. By increasing the duties of county human services departments, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, with 60 days of the effective date of the bill, to report to the budget committees and relevant policy committees of the Legislature the department’s plan to ensure that potential beneficiaries are able to apply online for those programs by December 1, 2024, or when the department notifies the Legislature that CalSAWS can perform the necessary automation to implement it, as specified. The bill would require the department to implement the bill’s requirements by all-county letters or similar instructions, beginning no later than March 1, 2024, or when the department notifies the Legislature that CalSAWS can perform the necessary automation to implement it, until regulations are adopted. The bill also would make findings and declarations relating to CalSAWS automation activities.

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.