SB 1339, as amended, Monning. Public social services: intercounty transfers.
Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income persons are provided with health care services.
Existing law establishes a statewide program to enable eligible low-income persons to receive food stamps under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh. Existing law requires counties to implement the program, including determining eligibility and distributing CalFresh benefits. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish and implement a process of intercounty transfer of eligibility for CalFresh benefits, and to take various regulatory actions.
Existing law requires the county where an applicant of a public assistance program lives to be responsible for paying for the aid and requires transfer of the responsibility to pay, when that person moves to another county, to the 2nd county as soon as administratively possible, but not later than the first day of the month following 30 days after notification to the 2nd county.
This bill would instead require the responsibility for payment of aid to transfer to the 2nd county as soon as administratively possible and within 30 days after either county becomes aware of the aid recipient’s move.
Under existing law, a recipient of aid who is changing residence from one county to another within the state is required to notify the county paying aid to the recipient of the move, and to apply for a redetermination of eligibility within the new county of residence. Existing law imposes various requirements on the relevant counties, including requiring the county to which the recipient has moved to determine the recipient’s continued eligibility for payment of aid and, to the extent possible, the recipient’s eligibility for the Medi-Cal program.
This bill would delete those provisions relating to the notice and redetermination of aid procedures for when a recipient of aid changes residence from one county to another within the state, including the procedures for intercounty transfer of CalFresh benefits. The bill would instead require the recipient to notify either the county from which he or she moves or the county to which he or she moves of the change of residence, and as soon as either county is aware of the move, would require that county to initiate an intercounty transfer for specified public social service benefits, which shall be transferred within 30 days after the county becomes aware of the recipient’s move. The bill would prohibit, to the extent permitted by federal law and regulation, the new county of residence from interviewing recipients from another county to determine continued eligibility for the CalWORKs or CalFresh programs until the next scheduled recertification or redetermination, and would require case file documents to be shared electronically between the prior county of residence and the new county of residence. For a beneficiary required to receive services through a Medi-Cal managed care health plan, who moves to another county, but is still enrolled in the managed care health plan in the county from which he or she moved and needs services in the new county, the bill would require the Medi-Cal Managed Care Ombudsman to, upon request bybegin insert the beneficiary orend insert either county, disenroll the beneficiary as an expedited disenrollment from his or her managed care health plan. The bill would provide that the beneficiary is entitled to the full scope of benefits for which he or she is entitled to in the new county through the fee-for-services delivery system until he or she is enrolled in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan in the new county. Because this bill would impose additional duties on counties with regard to the provision of aid, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
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 these statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 10003 is added to the Welfare and
2Institutions Code, to read:
(a) It shall be the responsibility of a recipient changing
4residence from one county to another to promptly notify either the
5county from which he or she moves or the county to which he or
6she moves of the change of residence. Recipients of CalWORKs,
7CalFresh, or Medi-Cal shall have the right to report a change of
8residence in person, in writing, telephonically, or, if the technology
P4 1is available, electronically online and shall be advised of this right
2at the time of application and redetermination or recertification.
3If a recipient moves from one county to another county, as soon
4as either county is aware of the move, that county shall initiate an
5intercounty transfer for all benefits under this division that the
6recipient is
receiving. Benefits for all programs for which the
7recipient is eligible shall be transferred within 30 days after any
8county becomes aware of the recipient’s move in order to effectuate
9the earliest possible start date.
10(b) To the greatest extent possible, the intercounty transfer
11process shall be simple and client friendly and minimize workload
12for county eligibility operations. The process shall ensure the
13applicant or recipient does not need to provide copies of documents
14that were previously provided to the prior county of residence, and
15there is no interruption in benefits.
16(c) Case file documents shall be electronically shared between
17the prior county of residence and the new county of residence, to
18the extent possible, as specified by the relevant state departments.
19(d) To the extent permitted by federal law and regulation, the
20new county of residence shall not interview recipients moving to
21that county from another county to determine continued eligibility
22for CalWORKs or CalFresh until the next scheduled recertification
23pursuant to Section 18910.1 or redetermination pursuant to Section
2411265.begin insert This section shall not preclude the new county of residence
25from interviewing CalWORKs recipients regarding welfare-to-work
26program participation, which is not a requirement for an
27intercounty transfer of CalWORKs eligibility.end insert
28(e) For beneficiaries required to receive services through a
29Medi-Cal managed care health plan, the following shall apply:
30(1) If the beneficiary moves to another county and is still
31enrolled in a managed care health plan in the county from which
32he or she moved and needs services in the new county, the
33Medi-Cal Managed Care Ombudsman shall, upon request bybegin insert the
34beneficiary orend insert either county, disenroll the beneficiary as an
35expedited disenrollment from his or her managed care health plan
36effective the next business day after the request is made.
37(2) A beneficiary who is disenrolled from the managed care
38health plan in the county from which he or she moved pursuant to
39paragraph (1) shall be entitled to the full scope of benefits for
40which he or she is entitled to in the new county through the
P5 1fee-for-services
delivery system until he or she is enrolled in a
2managed care health plan in the new county.
3(3) If the beneficiary moves to a county that provides Medi-Cal
4services through a county organized health system, the beneficiary
5shall be enrolled in that county organized health system plan on
6the first day of the month the new county of residence assumes
7responsibility for that beneficiary. If a beneficiary moves to a
8county without a county organized health system, the usual health
9plan choice process shall apply.
10(f) Failure to report a move to a different county within the state
11in itself shall not constitute a basis for an overpayment.
Section 11053 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
13repealed.
Section 11053.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code
15 is repealed.
Section 11102 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
17amended to read:
(a) County residence is not a qualification for aid under
19any public assistance program.
20(b) County responsibility for making aid payments is determined
21as follows:
22(1) The county where the applicant lives shall accept the
23application and shall be responsible for paying the aid.
24(2) Responsibility for payment of aid to a person qualifying for
25and receiving aid from a county, who moves to another county in
26this state to make his or her home, shall be transferred to the second
27county as soon as administratively possible and within
30 days
28after either county becomes aware of the aid recipient’s move.
29(c) For purposes of public assistance, the county where an
30applicant or recipient lives is determined as follows:
31(1) For a patient in a state hospital or institution, voluntary,
32nonprofit, or proprietary facility, or other public or private
33institution, the county where he or she was admitted.
34(2) For a person who has had to leave the county where he or
35she normally lives, solely for the purpose of securing care not
36otherwise available to him or her in a medical facility, the county
37where he or she last maintained a living arrangement outside a
38medical facility.
39(3) For a person
who, on or after July 1, 1969, has been released
40or discharged from a state hospital, for a period not to exceed three
P6 1years from the date of that release, the county where he or she was
2admitted to the hospital.
3(4) For a person who, prior to July 1, 1969, has been released
4on leave of absence from a state hospital, the county where he or
5she was admitted.
No appropriation pursuant to Section 15200 of the
7Welfare and Institutions Code shall be made for purposes of
8implementing this act.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
10this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
11local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
12pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
134 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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