(a) Payments for supportive services, as described in Section 11323.2, shall be advanced to the participant, whenever necessary, and when desired by the participant, so that the participant need not use the participant’s funds to pay for these services. Payments for childcare services shall be made in accordance with Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of the Education Code.
(b) The county welfare department shall take all reasonable steps necessary to promptly correct any overpayment or underpayment of supportive services payments to a recipient or a service provider, including, but not limited to, all cases involving fraud and abuse, consistent with procedures developed by the department.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any participant in on-the-job training who becomes ineligible for aid under this chapter due to earned income or hours worked, shall remain a participant in the program under this article for the duration of the on-the-job training assignment and shall be eligible for supportive services for the duration of the on-the-job training, provided this duration does not exceed the time limits otherwise applicable to the recipient.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any participant in on-the-job training, grant-based on-the-job training, supported work, or transitional employment who remains eligible for aid pursuant to this chapter, shall be eligible for transportation and ancillary expenses pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 11323.2.
(e) (1) Participants shall be encouraged to apply for financial aid, including educational grants, scholarships, and awards.
(2) To the extent permitted by federal law, the county shall coordinate with financial aid offices to establish procedures whereby the educational expenses of participants are met through available financial aid and the supportive services described in Section 11323.2. These procedures shall not result in duplication of payments, and shall require determinations to be made on an individual basis to ensure that using financial aid will not prevent the person’s participation in their welfare-to-work plan.
(f) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10850, for purposes of childcare supportive services, county welfare departments shall share information necessary for the administration of the childcare programs and the CalWORKs program.
(2) By January 1, 2021, or the date that automation changes occur, as required for implementation of this section, in the Statewide Automated Welfare System, whichever date is later, a county welfare department shall provide limited, read-only, online access through individual county-level Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) databases to local contractors providing CalWORKs childcare services. Access provided pursuant to this paragraph shall include a single summary page that contains current individual family data needed to enroll a family in CalWORKs childcare services or to transfer a family between stages. This data shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following items, if applicable:
(A) All of the information required in subdivision (a) of Section 18409 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, or any successor regulation thereto.
(B) If the family is no longer receiving CalWORKs cash aid, the date that a parent or adult caretaker last received CalWORKs cash aid.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not supersede any agreement between a county and a CalWORKs childcare contractor that was in effect on January 1, 2020, and provides for online access via the legacy Statewide Automated Welfare System to the data described in that paragraph.
(4) Beginning January 1, 2021, or the date that automation changes occur, as required for implementation of this section, in the Statewide Automated Welfare System, whichever date is later, a county welfare department shall provide to stage-two contractors on a monthly basis a report of all families for which the parent’s cash aid has been discontinued, the parent has not received aid for at least one month, and the parent has children in the home who are eligible for childcare services. The report shall include the parent’s most up-to-date contact information. The report shall be jointly designed with representatives from the department, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, and Parent Voices, in consultation with county welfare departments and SAWS.
(5) A county welfare department may provide training on security protocols and confidentiality of individual family data to a contractor who is given access to data pursuant to this subdivision.
(6) This subdivision is not intended to limit the information shared for the administration of childcare in addition to the data described in paragraph (2).
(7) After consultation with stakeholders, the department shall issue an all-county letter or similar directive by November 1, 2019, to implement paragraphs (2) to (6), inclusive, until regulations are adopted.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 414, Sec. 6. (AB 121) Effective October 2, 2019.)