The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - This funding supports the addition of new positions for SUN Bucks administration, updates to some county data entry systems, updates to certain CalFresh participant forms and notices, and the development of a strategic plan on maximizing benefits to Californians eligible for CalFresh.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/3

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - SSP Grants Were Increased in 2016-17, 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24.  Since the Great Recession, as seen in Figure  2, grants for individuals and couples have been increased four times —in 2016-17 (by 2.76  percent), 2021-22 (by 23.95  percent), 2022-23 (by 10.3  percent), and 2023-24 (by 9.2  percent).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - California ’s most recent payment error rate, for federal fiscal year 2023-24, is about 11  percent. (The comparable national error rate is similarly about 11  percent.) Payment error rates in California and nationally have risen in recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Welfare

Mar 3, 2026 - Flexible Family Supports and Home ‑Based Foster Care Funding Program $50 million one ‑time in 2022 ‑23 and again in 2023 ‑24, expendable for three years (through June 30, 2026 for the later allocation).
https://lao.ca.gov/publications/report/5147

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

Mar 5, 2026 - In particular, DSS developed a revised CalFresh administration budgeting methodology, implemented starting in 2023 ‑24, that relies on estimates of unit costs for various mandated eligibility administration activities, based on a county survey.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

Trends in CalWORKs: Participant Characteristics

Jun 16, 2025 - The SPM aims to account for forms of public assistance not included in the official poverty rate and adjusts income thresholds for additional factors, such as cost of living. As shown in Figure  3 , California ’s SPM rates were consistently higher than national SPM rates over the last decade, largely due to the state ’s high cost of living.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5057

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - The 2024-25 Budget Act  included a one-time reduction of $37  million in 2024-25 to ESE funding (as well as a one-time $30  million reduction to ESE funding in 2023-24). The 2025-26 spending plan restores ESE funding to $134  million (equivalent to annual ESE funding levels prior to the 2023-24 and 2024-25 reductions).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/2

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - The FFPS Advisory Committee was launched in spring 2023 and meets quarterly. Additionally, as DSS often does when implementing new, significant program changes, the department hired some third ‑party contractors to assist with various elements of FFPS implementation.  
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

The 2025-26 Budget: CWS-CARES

Mar 5, 2025 - In September 2023, an initial plan to conduct the production pilot was approved by the CWDS Board of Directors. One of the outstanding decisions for the next version of the pilot plan was how to technically implement the production pilot.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5006

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 22, 2021 - The funding increases from $5  million in 2021 ‑22 (intended for automation changes) to $25  million in 2022 ‑23 and about $280  million in 2023 ‑24 and beyond. Additional details about which specific populations will be served by this expansion are anticipated by 2023 ‑24.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4476/2