CalFresh Rule Changes

In September 2018, the Trump administration announced that they would propose a federal rule requiring health and nutrition benefits to be considered in immigration public charge determinations. After years of fierce advocacy led by the national Protecting Immigrant Families campaign and multiple lawsuits, on March 9 2021 this harmful rule was permanently blocked nationwide. Following this change, California health and human services leaders issued a joint statement, a new Public Charge Guide for individuals and families in English and Spanish, and a letter to counties providing information on this significant change. You can read CAFB’s statement here.

This cruel rule would have mandated that people with “ABAWD” status could only get CalFresh for three months in a three-year period if they did not meet certain special work requirements. It would have cut off CalFresh for an estimated 700,000 people. Thankfully on October 18, 2020, a federal judge in the District of Columbia struck down the ABAWD rule. You can read a joint statement by the Western Center on Law and Poverty, the Impact Fund, and Pillsbury here.

The long-standing Categorical Eligibility rule simplifies access to CalFresh for households receiving TANF benefits, and allows states to raise income reporting thresholds to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. If the proposed federal rule proposed in July 2019 would have taken effect, it would have reduced the total number of households participating in SNAP by 9 percent and lowered annual SNAP benefits paid out nationwide by 5 percent. In January 2021, the USDA withdrew this proposed rule.

This September 2019 proposed rule would have changed how states take households’ utility costs into account when determining the amount of CalFresh benefits households qualify for. In reality, this would force people to choose between paying their utilities and purchasing food, and disproportionately and detrimentally impact people with disabilities and older adults. In January 2021, the USDA withdrew this proposed rule.