Existing law directs the Office of Systems Integration within the California Health and Human Services Agency to implement a statewide automated welfare system for specified public assistance programs, including, among others, the CalWORKs program, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, and the foster care program.

Existing law requires any single state automated welfare system implemented pursuant to the above provisions to include a notification to inform a caseworker that an applicant or recipient has disclosed the need for an accommodation consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or has disclosed a disability or domestic violence experience that may affect the applicant’s or recipient’s eligibility for certain exemptions from, and exceptions to, CalWORKs program requirements. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to collaborate with county welfare departments in developing this notification, which is required to be immediately visible to the caseworker upon opening the applicant’s or recipient’s file in the system.

This bill would expand the notification requirement described above to inform a caseworker that an applicant or recipient has disclosed a disability or domestic violence experience that may affect the applicant’s or recipient’s eligibility for certain exemptions from, and exceptions to, requirements imposed by any public assistance program required to be included in the single state automated welfare system. The bill would also require the department to include in any amendment of or revision to a form or report that is adopted on or after January 1, 2020, and that is to be completed by an applicant for, or a recipient of, public assistance, using the single statewide automated welfare system, questions that permit the applicant or recipient to disclose a disability, the need for accommodation due to disability, and any experience of domestic violence.