HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Californians could lose access to food assistance provided by CalFresh in the coming months, even though they could still be eligible under new work requirements that took effect Monday.
The new rules focus on people considered “able bodied adults without dependents,” which are referred to in the program as ABAWDs. The requirements will force all recipients to go through lengthier recertifications to prove they are still eligible or exempt under the new policy, which requires 80 hours of work per month for anyone able to work under the age of 65 years old.
The work requirements were added to the program’s eligibility rules in 2025 with the passage of the federal budget bill House Resolution 1, or HR 1, which became known as the Big Beautiful Bill after President Donald Trump suggested that name for an omnibus spending bill that combined several large budget decisions into one bill.
CalFresh is the state program that operates and delivers the federal Supplemental Food Assistance Program, known as SNAP. The changed eligibility rules apply to all new applicants after Monday, June 1, and require anyone already receiving assistance to prove they meet them or are exempt when their annual recertification date comes up.
Those who do not meet the work requirements can only receive up to three months of food assistance over a three-year period. Previously, such recipients were eligible as long as they registered for workforce development programs and faced no such time limit on assistance.
Those who are exempt because of disability, caregiving, and several other reasons will need to prove their status through a more complex re-certification process that can take hours per client, depending on the process, according to the director of Contra Costa County’s Employment and Human Services Department, Marla Stuart.
New rules could strain county resources
In addition to changes for recipients, the looming workload for county staff and social workers who certify applicants’ eligibility at the local level is expected to overwhelm the current capacity.
That projected workload had representatives with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, county workforce development representatives, and state lawmakers calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase funding for eligibility workers by $221 million starting with the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget is due by June 15.
State Sen. Jesse Arreguin said a Senate committee advanced an increase of $175 million for county eligibility assistance and was in negotiations with the Assembly on its own proposed number.
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon on whether he would support either amount.
As part of the changes to SNAP, thousands of immigrants who are here on humanitarian grounds who have applied for asylum could also lose eligibility and some of the 72,000 such California residents, including some with approved asylum claims, could see their benefits drastically slashed, according to the California Budget and Policy Center, a nonprofit policy research organization.
The lack of enough staff to process applications and conduct screenings for applicants’ eligibility could cause roughly 260,000 Californians to lose CalFresh SNAP benefits despite still being eligible, according to County Welfare Directors Association Executive Director Carlos Marquez.
Lawmakers and advocates speaking at a virtual press conference Monday pointed to the impact staff shortages in SNAP programs were having in Massachusetts, which has faced huge capacity problems that have led to recipients not being able to connect to anyone.
“We cannot allow what is going on in Massachusetts to unfold across California counties,” Stuart said during the virtual press conference.
In February and January this year, about 75% of callers trying to get ahold of an eligibility worker in Massachusetts’ Department of Transitional Assistance got an automatic message telling them call volume was high and they were hung up on, according to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a nonprofit legal aid organization.
Stuart said there are about 51,000 residents in Contra Costa County that were subject to the new work requirements, including 4,276 CalFresh recipients that need to recertify this month.
Stuart said the county has invested in new workforce development programs that can help people stay eligible by connecting them to employment, volunteer or training sessions that count toward the work requirements. But she said the state needed to step forward with more funding to help hire an estimated 86 workers that county alone will need based on her projections.
“Our workforce development systems do not have sufficient capacity to absorb the huge increase in individuals that will need employment assistance,” Stuart said. “Additional employment funding is needed.”
Bay Area counties face added workload
In San Francisco, about one out of six, or 19,000 recipients, will be subject to the new work requirements yet might not qualify for an exemption, according to the city’s Human Services Agency.
In May, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced an additional $34 million to fund 150 new staffers to help process additional paperwork and connect applicants with employment programs.
In San Mateo County, more than 5,000 current CalFresh recipients are estimated to be ineligible under the new requirements, which is also about one in six recipients in that county, according to county spokesperson Paul Laustsen.
Laustsen said more than 600 immigrants in the county will also lose benefits or see their assistance reduced.
The recertification process in San Mateo County takes about 1 to 1.5 hours. Laustsen said the county would know more about staffing based on new workload needs in the coming months.
It’s intentionally cruel as it creates more barriers through strict bureaucratic reporting requirements … even when they are meeting those work requirements.
James Williams, Santa Clara County Executive
In Santa Clara County, about 52,000 recipients will be subject to the new work requirements, along with about 1,500 people who could lose eligibility because of their immigration status, according to a county spokesperson.
Santa Clara County Executive James Williams echoed Arreguin’s feelings that the law was designed to make it difficult for people to complete the process under the new rules.
“H.R. 1 threatens access to essential food assistance at a time when many families are already struggling to put food on the table, food pantries are operating at capacity, and food insecurity is rising nationwide, Williams said in a statement. “It’s intentionally cruel as it creates more barriers through strict bureaucratic reporting requirements that will directly result in people losing access to food assistance, even when they are meeting those work requirements.”