The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Federal Fiscal Responsibility Act's Impacts on CalWORKs

Mar 5, 2024 - Beginning October 1, 2024, each state must report annually on the attainment of high school diplomas or equivalent amongst program participants under age 24 and job entry, job retention, and median earnings of work-eligible program participants after program exit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4877

Measuring CalWORKs Performance

Sep 6, 2017 - In 2013, the Legislature enacted further changes to CalWORKs related to welfare ‑to ‑work. The first of these was requiring the development of a standardized appraisal, known as the Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT), which is used with all new CalWORKs participants to identify potential barriers to employment before they begin welfare ‑to ‑work.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3702

The 2021-22 Budget: CalWORKs Fiscal Outlook

Dec 8, 2020 - The 2021-22 Budget: CalWORKs Fiscal Outlook The 2021-22 Budget CalWORKs Fiscal Outlook In this post, we describe our most recent forecast for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program costs and discuss recent caseload trends.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4306

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Federal CalWORKs Pilot

Feb 21, 2025 - Instead, we understand performance of these states ’ TANF programs will be measured by the following four metrics: The percentage of work-eligible individuals employed six months after program exit. The earning levels of those individuals six and 12 months after program exit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4978

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - Subscribe | California State Legislature | Online Voter Registration | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Legislative Analyst's Office | The California Legislature's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor 925 L Street, Suite 1000 Sacramento, CA 95814 | (916) 445-4656
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

Trends in CalWORKs: Participant Characteristics

Jun 16, 2025 - Increased Earned Income Disregard (EID). The EID for applicants and participants (or the monthly dollar amount applicants and participants can earn before further income affects eligibility) changed multiple times over the last decade.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5057

Estimating the CalWORKs Take-Up Rate

Feb 2, 2021 - More recently, the state allocated $2  million in 2016 ‑17 and 2017 ‑18 to improve awareness and take-up of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which provides money to low-income workers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4340

Housing and Homelessness Funding Impacting Children

Mar 25, 2019 - Earned Income Tax Credit. A state and federal income tax credit for low ‑income working families and individuals, which reduces the tax amount owed by the tax ‑filer and, in some cases, may provide eligible filers with a refundable income amount.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3985

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - Participants in the self-determination program are provided an individual budget, a fixed amount of money with which to purchase the services of their choosing. Participants then decide how to use the money in their individual budget by developing a spending plan, which identifies the services and items the participant needs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/1

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation [Publication Details]

Mar 5, 2026 - In this brief, we assess the Governor's proposed funding for county administration of Medi-Cal and CalFresh in response to H.R. 1 and provide related recommendations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5149