Existing federal law provides for the federal 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 authorizes eligible counties to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP), which allows eligible homeless, elderly, and disabled recipients to purchase meals at qualified restaurants. Existing law specifies that, for the purposes of these provisions, a restaurant includes, but is not necessarily limited to, an on-campus qualifying food facility, an eat-in establishment, a grocery store delicatessen, and a takeaway-only restaurant, unless it is specifically excluded from participation in the RMP by federal law or guidance.

This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, make all CalFresh recipients eligible to participate in the RMP, and would require the State Department of Social Services to seek all necessary waivers to implement the expanded eligibility. The bill would also replace most uses of the term “restaurant” with the term “establishment,” and would explicitly include within the meaning of an establishment a military commissary and all locations within a grocery store where one can purchase ready to eat ready-to-eat foods. The bill would require the department, on or before May 1, 2023, to issue guidance to grocery stores and military commissaries that would like to become an establishment approved to participate in the RMP about how to become an approved establishment.