Requires study of CalFresh overpayment collection threshold

Existing law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), administered in California as CalFresh, under which each county distributes nutrition assistance benefits provided by the federal government to eligible households. Existing law requires each county human services agency to carry out the local administrative responsibilities of this program, subject to the supervision of the State Department of Social Services and to rules and regulations adopted by the department. Existing law requires current and future CalFresh benefits to be reduced, as specified, to recover an overissuance caused by administrative error if required by federal law, or if the overissuance exceeds $125 or the minimum cost-effective threshold for collecting overissuances that the department is authorized to establish, whichever is greater.

This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2019, to finalize an analysis and determine whether it has adequate information to set a minimum statewide cost-effective threshold for collecting overissuances that are greater than $125, and, if it has adequate information, to include that greater threshold in the state’s claims management plan that is submitted for approval to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The bill would require the department to establish a minimum statewide cost-effective threshold if the claims management plan includes that threshold and the USDA FNS approves the plan. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature detailing the results of the analysis, as specified, if the department determines that it does not have adequate information to set the minimum statewide cost-effective threshold described above.

Existing federal law requires, if the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States determines that there has been negligence or fraud on part of a state in the certification of applicant households, the state to deposit into the Treasury of the United States, a sum equal to the face value of any benefits issued as a result of the negligence or fraud. Existing federal law authorizes the secretary, if he or she determines that a state overissued benefits to a substantial number of households in a fiscal year as a result of a major systemic error by the state, to prohibit the state from collecting these overissuances and requires the secretary to establish a claim against the state equal to the value of the overissuance caused by the systemic error.

This bill would require a county human services agency to notify the department when a mass overissuance, as defined, has been identified, and to include in the notification information about whether the mass overissuance was caused by specified events. The bill would require the department to report mass overissuances to the USDA FNS, in accordance with federal law and guidance. By increasing the duties of local officials, the bill 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.