Public social services: state of emergency or health emergency.

Assembly Member Harabedian's proposal to maintain public assistance benefits during emergencies would require California's social services departments to automatically continue eligibility for recipients affected by declared emergencies or public health crises. The measure covers major assistance programs including CalWORKs, CalFresh, the California Food Assistance Program, In-Home Supportive Services, the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, and Medi-Cal.

Under the bill's provisions, recipients' current benefits would continue for at least 90 days from an emergency declaration and extend through its conclusion. County agencies would use automated systems to prevent benefit discontinuations and would immediately restore eligibility for affected individuals whose benefits had lapsed, accepting verbal confirmation of emergency impact without requiring additional documentation. The departments would notify recipients about continued eligibility and modified reporting deadlines through mail and electronic communications.

The measure includes specific protections for recipients who miss reporting deadlines during emergencies, requiring counties to determine they had good cause for delayed submissions. While creating new responsibilities for county agencies, the bill specifies that implementation must align with federal law and would not trigger additional state appropriations. Counties could receive reimbursement for new costs if the Commission on State Mandates determines they constitute state-mandated expenses.