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October 9, 2018

ALL COUNTY LETTER (ACL) NO. 18-124

TO: ALL COUNTY WELFARE DIRECTORS

ALL COUNTY CALWORKS PROGRAM SPECIALISTS

ALL CALFRESH PROGRAM SPECIALISTS

ALL COUNTY REFUGEE COORDINATORS

ALL COUNTY CONSORTIA REPRESENTATIVES

SUBJECT: CALIFORNIA WORK OPPORTUNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY TO KIDS (CALWORKS): TEN PERCENT INCREASE TO THE MAXIMUM AID PAYMENT (MAP) LEVELS

REFERENCE: WELFARE & INSTITUTIONS CODE (WIC) SECTIONS 11450,

WIC 11450.021, WIC 11450.022, WIC 11452, AND WIC 11453;

ASSEMBLY BILL (AB) 1811 (CHAPTER 35, STATUTES OF 2018);

ALL COUNTY LETTER (ACL) No. 16-64

The purpose of this ACL is to inform the County Welfare Departments (CWDs) of the 2019 CalWORKs MAP increase pursuant to the passage of AB 1811 (Chapter 35, Statutes of 2018) which was signed by the Governor on June 27, 2018. This letter includes instructions to be used in the implementation of the ten percent MAP increase. The CalWORKs MAP increase takes effect on April 1, 2019. This policy change must be automated into the Statewide Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS) by the effective date. If the MAP increase cannot be automated by the effective date, the SAWS must provide CWDs a temporary workaround to ensure that CalWORKs recipients receive the MAP increase no later than their date of issuance in the month of April. CalWORKs and CalFresh recipients must be notified of changes to their CalWORKs grant and the associated impact of the household’s CalFresh benefits no later than March 20, 2019.

The grant increase applies to all CalWORKs cases, regardless of whether the Assistance Unit (AU) lives in Region One or Region Two and regardless of the AU’s Exempt or Non-Exempt status. The CWDs are to treat the grant increase as a mandatory county-initiated mid-period action for Semi Annual Reporting (SAR) and Annual Reporting/Child Only (AR/CO) cases. AB 1811 also provides for further MAP increases in Fiscal Years (FY) 2019–20 and 2020–21, or until the maximum aid payment levels reach 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for