To the extent permitted by federal law, and subject to the limitation in subdivision (d), each county welfare department shall, if appropriate, exempt a household from complying with face-to-face interview requirements for purposes of determining eligibility at initial application and recertification, according to the following:
(a) The county welfare department shall screen each household’s need for exemption status at application and recertification.
(b) A person eligible for an exemption under this section may request a face-to-face interview to establish initial eligibility or to comply with recertification requirements.
(c) (1) No later than July 1, 2021, for purposes of interview scheduling and rescheduling at initial application and recertification, county welfare departments shall implement one or more of the following interview scheduling techniques in addition to providing written notice, to the extent they are not currently in use: time-block, telephonic contact in conjunction with, or prior to, the provision of written communication about the need to schedule an interview, and same-day interviews.
(2) The department, in consultation with the counties and client advocates, may authorize additional scheduling techniques to fulfill the requirement described in paragraph (1).
(d) This section does not limit a county’s ability to require an applicant or recipient to make a personal appearance at a county welfare department office if the applicant or recipient no longer qualifies for an exemption or for other good cause.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 11, Sec. 86. (AB 79) Effective June 29, 2020.)