Guaranteed income payments: consideration as income or resources.
AB 1357
California Bills
20250AB__135796AMD INTRODUCED 2025-02-21 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2025-03-24 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2025-05-01 AMENDED_SENATE 2025-07-03 2025 AB AMD Introduced by Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez (Coauthor: Assembly Member Lee) LEAD_AUTHOR ASSEMBLY Celeste Rodriguez COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Lee
An act to add
Chapter 15.5 (commencing with
Section 18996.5) to Part of Division of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services. public social services Guaranteed income payments: consideration as income or resources. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation, to administer the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program until January 1, 2028, to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to participants.
Existing law requires the department to prioritize, for these purposes, California residents who age out of the extended foster care program at or after years of age or who are pregnant individuals. Under existing law, guaranteed income payments received by an individual from a pilot program or project, as described above, are not considered income or resources for purposes of determining the individual’s, or any member of their household’s, eligibility for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any state or local benefit or assistance program, as specified.
Existing law establishes various public social services programs within the jurisdiction of the State Department of Social Services, including, among others, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and the CalFresh program. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services.
Under this bill, to the extent not in conflict with federal law, guaranteed income payments received by an individual would not be considered income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility for benefits, or the amount of benefits, under any means-tested program, and vice versa. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services, for programs under their jurisdiction, to seek any federal waivers necessary to implement these provisions.
The bill would define “guaranteed income payments” to include, but not be limited to, payments provided through pilot programs or projects receiving funding from the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program or payments provided through locally funded programs, as specified. Under the bill, means-tested programs would include, but would not be limited to, the CalWORKs program, the CalFresh program, the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), the Medi-Cal program, the General Assistance Program, and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI).
By creating new duties for counties with regard to eligibility determinations for means-tested programs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing these provisions. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. MAJORITY NO YES YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 15.5 (commencing with
Section 18996.5) is added to Part of Division of the Welfare and Institutions Code , to read: 15.5. Guaranteed Income Payments 18996.5. (
a) Notwithstanding any other law, guaranteed income payments received by an individual shall not be considered income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility for benefits, or the amount of benefits, under any means-tested program, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, as described in
Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) of
Part 3.
(2) The CalFresh program, as described in
Chapter 10 (commencing with
Section 18900).
(3) The California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), as described in
Chapter 10.1 (commencing with
Section 18930), through whichever version of
Section is operative.
(4) The Medi-Cal program, as described in
Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 14000) of
Part 3.
(5) The General Assistance Program, as described in
Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 17000) of
Part 5. (6)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) Program, as described in
Article 4.5 (commencing with
Section 11360) of
Chapter of
Part 3.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(7)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>The Adoption Assistance Program (AAP), as described in
Chapter 2.1 (commencing with
Section 16115) of
Part 4.</xhtml:p>"?> (8)</xhtml:p>"?>
(6) The Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), as described in
Chapter 10.3 (commencing with
Section 18937). (
b) Notwithstanding any other law, benefits received by an individual under any means-tested program, including, but not limited to, those listed in subdivision (a), shall not be considered income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility for guaranteed income payments or the amount of those guaranteed income payments. (
c) For purposes of this section, “guaranteed income payments” means unconditional, recurring, regular cash payments, whether publicly or privately funded, that are intended to support the basic needs of eligible recipients, including, but not limited to, payments provided through pilot programs or projects receiving funding from the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program (Chapter 16 (commencing with
Section 18997)) or payments provided through locally funded programs. (
d) For purposes of the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, this
section shall be implemented in conjunction with subdivisions (
c) and (
d) of
Section 18997. (
e) This
section shall be implemented only to the extent not in conflict with federal law. (
f) The State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services shall, for programs under their jurisdiction, seek any federal waivers necessary to implement this section.
SEC. 2. No appropriation pursuant to
Section of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall be made for purposes of this act.
SEC. 3. To the extent that this act has an overall effect of increasing certain costs already borne by a local agency for programs or levels of service mandated by the Realignment Legislation within the meaning of
Section of
Article XIII of the California Constitution, it shall apply to local agencies only to the extent that the state provides annual funding for the cost increase. Any new program or higher level of service provided by a local agency pursuant to this act above the level for which funding has been provided shall not require a subvention of funds by the state or otherwise be subject to
Section of
Article XIII B of the California Constitution. However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to