Extra food stamps September 2022 - California

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act authorized emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits because of COVID-19. In California, the emergency allotments will raise each household’s monthly allotment of CalFresh to the maximum allowable based on household size.  The Food and Nutrition Service will approve requests for the additional benefits on a month-by-month basis. [All County Welfare Directors Letter, May 21, 2020.]  The March, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on April 12, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, April 2, 2020.] The April emergency allotment will be available on May 10, 2020.  [Id.] The May, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on June 14, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, May 21, 2020.]  The June, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on July 12, 2020.  [Id.]  The July, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on August 16, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, June 23, 2020.]  The August, 2020 emergency allotment will be issued on September 13, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, August 3, 2020; All County Welfare Directors Letter, August 24, 2020 (correcting issuance date to September 13).] The September, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on October 18, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, August 24, 2020.]  The October, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on November 15, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, September 29, 2020.]  The November, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on December 20, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, October 30, 2020.]  The December, 2020 emergency allotment will be available on January 10, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, November 30, 2020.] The January, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on February 14, 2021.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, January 4, 2021, ACIN I-21-11 [changing issuance date from February 7 to February 14, 2021.]  The emergency allotments will be issued on the client’s existing electronic benefits transfer card.  The February, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on March 7, 2021.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, January 29, 2021.]  The March, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on April 18, 2021, so long as the COVID-19 public health emergency remains in place at some point in the month of March.  [ACWDL, February 25, 2021.]  The April, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on May 16, 2021. [ACWDL, April 16, 2021.]  The May, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on June 13, 2021.  [ACWDL, May 5, 2021.]  The June, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on July 18, 2021.  [ACWDL, June 2, 2021.]  The July, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on August 8, 2021.  [ACWDL, June 24, 2021.]  The August, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on September 5, 2021.  [ACWDL, August 11, 2021.]  The September, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on October 24, 2021.  [ACWDL, September 2, 2021.]  The October emergency allotment will be available on November 14, 2021.  [ACWDL, October 14, 2021.] The November, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on December 5, 2021 for CalSAWS counties and December 12, 2021 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL November 16, 2021.] The December, 2021 emergency allotment will be available on January 16, 2022.  [ACWDL December 17, 2022.]  The January, 2022 emergency allotment will be available on February 27, 2022.  [ACWDL, January 21, 2022.] The February, 2022 emergency allotment will be available on March 20, 2022 for CalWIN counties and March 27, 2022 for CalSAWS counties.  [ACWDL, February 23, 2022.]  The March, 2022 emergency allotment will be available on April 17, 2022.  [ACWDL, March 22, 2022.]  The April, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on May 15, 2022 for CalSAWS counties and May 22, 2022 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL, April 7, 2022.]  The May, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on June 12, 2022 for CalSAWS counties and June 19, 2022 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL, May 3, 2022.]  The June, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on July 17, 2022 for CalSAWS counties and July 24, 2022 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL, June 9, 2022.]  The July, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on August 14, 2022 for CalSAWS counties and August 21, 2022 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL, July 8, 2022.]  The August, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on September 4, 2022 for CalSAWS counties and September 10, 2022 for CalWIN counties.  [ACWDL, August 19, 2022.]  The September, 2022 emergency allotment will be issued on October 16, 2022.  [ACWDL, September 2, 2022.]

Before April, 2021, CalFresh households already receiving the maximum allotment did not receive an emergency allotment.  Starting in April, 2021, households that had not receive at least $95 in increase benefits through emergency allotments during COVID-19 will receive emergency allotments such that they receive at least a $95 emergency allotment. [USDA Press Release No. 0064/21, April 1, 2021; ACWDL, April 16, 2021.]

The Consolidated Appropriations Act increases CalFresh allotments by 15% for the period January 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021.  [ACIN I-11-21.] This increase in benefits must be excluded when calculating the amount of an overissuance against a household.  [Id.]  For January 2021, the benefit increase will be issued on February 7, 2021.  [Id.]  The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 extends the 15% increase in benefits to September 30, 2021.  [ACIN I-24-21.]  The 15% increase ended on September 30, 2021. [ACIN I-78-21.]

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act also authorized additional nutrition benefits in an amount equivalent to what a family loses because who are no longer in school are no longer receiving free or reduced cost meals through the school.  California is calling this program Pandemic EBT (P-EBT).  These benefits are separate from the CalFresh program.

The benefits will be issued on an EBT card that is mailed by the California Department of Social Services to people who are eligible.  Children who receive CalFresh or Medi-Cal will automatically receive P-EBT. Families with children who applied at their school to receive free or reduced school meals must apply online for P-EBT.  The online application will be available at ca.p-ebt.org/en/ until July 15, 2020.  For most families, the benefit will be $365 per child.  The benefit will be less for families that applied for CalFresh or Medi-Cal after March 15, 2020.  [All County Welfare Directors Letter, May 7, 2020.]  Families who applied for P-EBT but benefits were not issued should get a notice from the California Department of Social Services by email.  Families who either were denied (regardless of whether they received the notice) or think they should have received P-EBT but did not can appeal using this form.  Appeals must be filed by August 17, 2020.

California was approved to issue additional P-EBT benefits for August and September, 2020 to provide nutrition benefits for children who would otherwise receive free or reduced-price school meals if not for COVID-19.  [ACWDL, November 2, 2020.]

Most children who received P-EBT will receive P-EBT extension benefits.  Children who received P-EBT will receive extension benefits if they are still a California registered student, can be assumed to be attending school via virtual instruction, and are found to be eligible through the State’s data match program.  New P-EBT cards with additional benefits will be automatically mailed to families without the family needing to apply online. [Id.]

The amount of P-EBT extension benefits an individual child is eligible to receive depends on the child’s start date of virtual instruction for the 2020-21 school year. P-EBT extension will be provided based on the school meal reimbursement rate of $5.86 per day for each qualifying day of virtual instruction.  The maximum amount of P-EBT extension benefits is $246. [Id.]

The P-EBT Helpline will provide ongoing cardholder support.  The P-EBT Helpline is (877) 328-9677.  The P-EBT Helpline can assist with PIN set-up and P-EBT card replacement.  The P-EBT Helpline will not help with children not found in the system because the time for eligibility appeals has expired on August 17, 2020.  [Id.]