Plain English Breakdown
The official source confirms the bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, but does not specify if it has been signed by the Governor or its exact effective date.
California Antihunger Response and Employment Training Act of 2026
This law creates a new state-funded food program for adults who lost CalFresh benefits due to time limits and expands an existing program to help more people based on immigration status.
What This Bill Does
- Creates the CARET program to give food benefits equal to CalFresh amounts to able-bodied adults without dependents who hit federal time limits and are not eligible for other exemptions.
- Allows CARET recipients to join job training programs and lets service providers get paid by the state for helping them.
- Expands the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to include people ineligible due to ABAWD time limits or humanitarian immigration status, regardless of citizenship.
- Removes the rule that CFAP can only run when certain federal benefits are available elsewhere in the country.
- Requires the Department of Social Services to issue guidance by April 1, 2028, on how counties should share and use exemption slots.
Who It Names or Affects
- Able-bodied adults without dependents who lost CalFresh benefits because they reached a three-month limit in a three-year period.
- People ineligible for food aid solely due to their humanitarian immigration status or citizenship status.
- Counties and service providers that offer employment training services under the CalFresh E&T program.
Terms To Know
- ABAWD
- Able-Bodied Adult Without Dependents; a person aged 18 to 49 who does not have children and is expected to work, but faces strict time limits on food benefits.
- CARET
- California Antihunger Response and Employment Training; the new state-funded program created by this bill for people blocked from CalFresh due to ABAWD rules.
- CFAP
- California Food Assistance Program; a state-run food aid program for households ineligible for federal benefits, now expanded to include more groups of people.
Limits and Unknowns
- The bill does not list an effective date or the specific amount of money set aside to fund these new programs.
- Guidance on how counties share exemption slots must be issued by April 1, 2028, but details are not yet finalized in this text.