(a) There is hereby created the Safe Drinking Water Supplemental Benefit Pilot Program, a state-funded program to provide additional CalFresh nutrition benefits for interim assistance to purchase safe drinking water in areas where it is necessary.
(b) The State Department of Social Services shall use moneys allocated for this program to provide time-limited additional state-funded nutrition benefits to residents of prioritized disadvantaged communities that are served by public water systems that consistently fail to meet primary drinking water standards, as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code. Benefits shall be in addition to benefits provided for pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 11450) of Chapter 2 of Part 3, and shall not be considered as income for any program established in this code.
(c) The department may use its own existing databases and databases from the State Water Resources Control Board to determine which CalFresh households are eligible to receive benefits pursuant to this section. The following households shall receive priority:
(1) CalFresh recipients served by persistently noncompliant public water systems in disadvantaged communities, as defined in Section 79505.5 of the Water Code, as determined by the location of the recipient’s residence.
(2) CalFresh recipients in communities deemed eligible for interim emergency drinking water benefits by the State Water Resources Control Board, as determined by the recipient’s residence.
(d) Benefits granted pursuant to this section shall be delivered through the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system created pursuant to Sections 10072 and 10072.2.
(e) The benefits authorized pursuant to this section are not entitlement benefits. A county shall comply with this section only to the extent funding for this purpose is appropriated in the annual Budget Act and available to the county. A county shall not be required to expend county funds for the provision of benefits authorized under this section.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2024, and, as of January 1, 2025, is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 11, Sec. 87. (AB 79) Effective June 29, 2020. Inoperative July 1, 2024. Repealed as of January 1, 2025, by its own provisions.)