CalWORKs.

Authors Sharp-Collins and Lee, joined by Ransom as a coauthor, advance a bundle of CalWORKs reforms that reframe how a child’s deprivation of parental support is determined, broaden the scope of who may receive aid, and add new work and reporting requirements. The measure would, beginning July 1, 2026 or later if automation is not yet ready, remove the requirement that a parent must have worked a specified number of hours in the prior four weeks to establish deprivation, instead deeming a child deprived so long as the family remains within income limits and otherwise eligible for assistance. It would also modify aid eligibility when a caretaker relative is on strike or a lockout, permitting aid to be paid to the assistance unit and, for strikes by a parent or related party, require that the needs of the striking individual be included in calculating the monthly grant, to the extent permitted by federal law. Additionally, the bill adds self-employment to the welfare-to-work activities and directs a statewide feasibility study on expansion of CalWORKs.

Key mechanisms and details include: the deprivation change to remove the hours-work threshold and to treat deprivation based on income eligibility rather than hours worked; operative timing tied to automation readiness; a shift in strike-related aid rules so that aid determinations may reflect the needs of striking participants, with federal-law alignment; and the inclusion of self-employment as an approved component of welfare-to-work activities alongside education, job search, work experience, on-the-job training, and other established activities. The measure imposes planning and programmatic requirements on counties for subsidized employment, including prioritization of placements with employers that have labor-management or community agreements and a prohibition on substitutions that would replace public employees, as well as restrictions regarding employers with poor safety or recent environmental or labor-law violations. It also broadens reporting requirements, including data on subsidized employment participants and outcomes, and allows department-initiated flexible guidance prior to regulations.

Implementation and fiscal approach emphasize timing, funding structure, and accountability. The act would establish a feasibility study by the State Department of Social Services to assess expansion scenarios, costs, and statutory changes, with a report due to legislative committees by January 1, 2028; the study would involve consultation with county and labor-benefit stakeholders. It would create a new operating framework for subsidies that is separate from existing county allocations, require counties to submit plans or confirmations of no change for subsidized employment programs beginning in early 2025, and set a cap on participation in subsidized employment at six months per participant, with potential extensions up to a total of twelve months under specified conditions. The bill would remove a continuous General Fund appropriation for implementing these provisions and provide that state-mandated local costs would be reimbursed only if the Commission on State Mandates so determines. It also requires annual data reporting in the CalWORKs Annual Summary related to program implementation and outcomes, where available.