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(a) The department shall administer a voluntary Temporary Assistance Program (TAP) for current and future CalWORKs recipients who meet the exemption criteria for work participation activities set forth in Section 11320.3 and are not single parents who have a child under the age of one year. Temporary Assistance Program recipients shall be entitled to the same assistance payments and other benefits as recipients under the CalWORKs program. The purpose of this program is to provide cash assistance and other benefits to eligible families without any federal restrictions or requirements and without any adverse impact on recipients. The Temporary Assistance Program shall commence no later than October 1, 2016.
(b) CalWORKs recipients who meet the exemption criteria for work participation activities set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3, and are not single parents with a child under one year of age, shall have the option of receiving grant payments, child care, and transportation services from the Temporary Assistance Program. The department shall notify all CalWORKs recipients and applicants meeting the exemption criteria specified in subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3, except for single parents with a child under the age of one year, of their option to receive benefits under the Temporary Assistance Program. Absent written indication that these recipients or applicants choose not to receive assistance from the Temporary Assistance Program, the department shall enroll CalWORKs recipients and applicants into the program. However, exempt volunteers shall remain in the CalWORKs program unless they affirmatively indicate, in writing, their interest in enrolling in the Temporary Assistance Program. A Temporary Assistance Program recipient who no longer meets the exemption criteria set forth in Section 11320.3 shall be enrolled in the CalWORKs program.
(c) Funding for grant payments, child care, transportation, and eligibility determination activities for families receiving benefits under the Temporary Assistance Program shall be funded with General Fund resources that do not count toward the state’s maintenance of effort requirements under clause (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 609 of Title 42 of the United States Code, up to the caseload level equivalent to the amount of funding provided for this purpose in the annual Budget Act.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that recipients shall have and maintain access to the hardship exemption and the services necessary to begin and increase participation in welfare-to-work activities, regardless of their county of origin, and that the number of recipients exempt under subdivision (b) of Section 11320.3 not significantly increase due to factors other than changes in caseload characteristics. All relevant state law applicable to CalWORKs recipients shall also apply to families funded under this section. This section does not modify the criteria for exemption in Section 11320.3.
(e) To the extent that this section is inconsistent with federal regulations regarding implementation of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the department may amend the funding structure for exempt families to ensure consistency with these regulations, not later than 30 days after providing written notification to the chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairs of the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2016.