The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - Not all providers will be subject to all three requirements (for example, the HCBS rules only apply to providers of certain service types, while the audit requirement only applies to providers that receive a certain amount of federal funding per year).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/1

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

Feb 21, 2025 - California ’s current rules provide more flexibility than the current federal rules on the types of activities that can be counted towards participation. Additionally, California does not dictate how many hours an individual must spend on core activities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4978

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - To be eligible, households generally must earn less than 200  percent of the federal poverty level. CalFresh benefits can be used to buy most groceries and some prepared food at participating vendors, which include most grocery and convenience stores.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

Estimating the CalWORKs Take-Up Rate

Feb 2, 2021 - We also will attempt to identify which types of families are most likely to enroll in CalWORKs when eligible. Conclusion Measuring the CalWORKs take-up rate is an important step towards potentially improving participation in the program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4340

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

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

Mar 5, 2024 - Cal-OAR also captures information on participating households ’ stability and well-being, such as access to supportive services like child care, educational attainment, wage progression, and rate of program exits with earnings.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4877

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Welfare

Mar 3, 2026 - The Tiered Rate Structure will rely on data collected via the state ’s functional assessment tool —the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment —to determine a youth ’s needed level of care and corresponding rate, which will not depend on placement types.
https://lao.ca.gov/publications/report/5147

The 2024-25 Budget: CalWORKs

Mar 4, 2024 - LAO Assessment ESE Elimination May Impact Employment and Earnings of Some CalWORKs Recipients. As mentioned, about 1,240 individuals participated in ESE each month in 2022 ‑23. Additionally, ESE has helped some participants secure higher ‑paying employment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4872

The 2022-23 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Oct 21, 2022 - Adopted in 2022 ‑23 budget Court ability to establish earning capacity Codify courts ’ ability to impute income based on earning capacity. Also codifies requirement for courts to consider specific circumstances of the parent, including the parent ’s assets, educational attainment, and health when determining earning capacity.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4640/6

The 2023-24 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 22, 2023 - Increasing the earned income disregard for applicants (or the amount CalWORKs applicants can earn before further income effects their eligibility for the program) from $90 to $450 per month. (The 2022-23 budget includes $79.5  million General Fund to implement this change starting in March  2023.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4699