CalFresh: benefit overissuance.

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 a benefit overissuance caused by administrative error. If a household is no longer receiving CalFresh benefits, existing law prohibits the establishment or collection of a CalFresh overissuance caused by administrative error if the overissuance is less than $125 or the minimum statewide cost-effective threshold established by the state, whichever is greater, and existing law requires collection if the overissuance is caused by inadvertent household error and the overissuance is $35 or more. This bill would increase those threshold overissuance claim amounts to $400 for a household that is no longer receiving CalFresh benefits. The bill would require the department to develop and implement a policy for compromising administrative error claims, in whole or in part, for households that include at least one elderly or disabled member, as specified. The bill would authorize its provisions to be implemented through an all-county letter no later than January 1, 2021.