CalFresh Update 2023-16

CalFresh Overissuance Compromise Policy 

Date	References	Clerical	Handbook(s) Revised
12/29/2023	ACL 21-118: ACL 22-61: ACL 22-61E; ACL 22-61E2	None	CF OI/UI Chapter

---

Background

Senate Bill (SB) 490 required the California Department of Social Services to establish a policy to compromise overissuance claims for CalFresh households that include at least one elderly and/or disabled member,  including those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). 

Changes

Administrative Error (AE) and Inadvertent Household Error (IHE) claims for active and inactive households with at least one elderly and/or disabled member will be compromised. AE and IHE claims must be reduced according to household composition and participation status at the time of discovery as follows: 

 

• AE and IHE claims for all active and inactive households consisting solely of members who are elderly and/or disabled at the time of the discovery of the claim will be reduced by 100 percent.
• AE and IHE claims for all active and inactive households that include at least one member who is not elderly and/or disabled, but only the elderly and/or disabled household members are responsible household members at the time of the discovery of the claim will be reduced by 100 percent.
• AE and IHE claims for all active households that include at least one member who is elderly and/or disabled and at least one member who is not elderly and/or disabled and is a responsible member of the household at the time of the discovery of the claim will be reduced by 50 percent. 

Claims in Collection

If a household is already in a collection, they can request that the County compromise the balance on their existing claim. Once the request is received, eligibility for the new compromise policy must be determined, and the OI claim must be manually reduced in accordance with the new compromise policy.

For more detailed information, refer to Collection of Claims. 

Implementation

The change is effective 12/31/2023. 

Documentation

Staff must document in the journal which claim was compromised for the household. 

Data Systems

CalSAWS automation will compromise AE and IHE claims filed on or after 12/31/2023 and send related notifications.

Notices

For households receiving a 50% compromise, a notice must be issued to inform the household of the compromise and the remaining balance. 

Other Programs

This change will affect only the CalFresh program.  

Supervisors

EW Supervisors must review this Update with their respective EWs. 

---

Angela Shing, Director 
Department of Employment & Benefit Services 
Contact Person(s): Michelle Demetrius, SSA BPIS, 408-755-7540