California AB 2299: Local government: public safety officials: confidentiality.

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 Bill Text - AB-2299 California Antihunger Response and Employment Training Act of 2026. 

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 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 04/06/26 - Amended Assembly
 02/19/26 - Introduced

 AB-2299 California Antihunger Response and Employment Training Act of 2026. (2025-2026)

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 Date Published: 04/06/2026 09:00 PM

AB2299:v98#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Revised
 May 14, 2026

 Amended
 IN 
 Assembly
 April 06, 2026

 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

 Assembly Bill

No. 2299

Introduced by Assembly Member Calderon
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alanis, Boerner, Davies, and Jackson) Jackson, Schiavo, Lee, Solache, and Celeste Rodriguez)
(Coauthors: Senators Gonzalez, Strickland, and Umberg)

February 19, 2026

 An act to add Chapter 10.6 (commencing with Section 18947) to Part 6 of Division 9 of amend Section 18930 of, to amend the heading of Chapter 10.1 (commencing with Section 18930) of Part 6 of Division 9 of, and to repeal Section 18935 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to CalFresh.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2299, as amended, Calderon.
 California Antihunger Response and Employment Training Act of 2026. 

Existing federal law establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county.

Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met work participation requirements or is otherwise exempt. Existing federal law authorizes a waiver of that time limit upon the request of a state if it is determined that the area in which the individuals reside has an unemployment rate of over 10% or does not have a sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for the individuals. Existing state law requires the State Department of Social
 Services, to the extent permitted by federal law, to annually seek a federal waiver of the time limit. Existing federal law also authorizes a state to provide, in each fiscal year, an exemption from the 3-month time limit for covered individuals, to the extent that the average monthly number of exemptions in effect during a fiscal year does not exceed 8% of the number of covered individuals in the state.

Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training (CalFresh E&T) program, established by federal law, and requires a participating county to demonstrate in its CalFresh E&T plan how it is effectively using CalFresh E&T funds for each of the components that the county offers, including work experience or training and job searching.

This bill would require the department to establish the California Antihunger Response and Employment Training (CARET), a state-funded program to
 provide benefits to a person who has been determined ineligible for CalFresh benefits, or for whom CalFresh benefits have been discontinued, as a result of the ABAWD time limit, and who also is ineligible for a percentage exemption, as specified. The bill would require that the person receive the same amount of benefits under the CARET program that they would have received under the CalFresh program if the ABAWD time limit did not make them ineligible. The bill would also make a CARET program recipient eligible for CalFresh E&T program benefits, and would make a CalFresh E&T provider serving a CARET recipient eligible to draw down a state-funded reimbursement in the same amount that the provider would have been eligible to receive for allowable CalFresh E&T services for a CalFresh recipient. The bill would require the issuance of CARET benefits through a state-administered and state-funded electronic benefits transfer system, as specified.

The bill would
 require the department to develop, in consultation with specified entities, and to issue guidance to maximize the use of percentage exemptions from the 3-month time limit available under federal law and guidance relating to SNAP. The bill would authorize the guidance to include redistribution of percentage exemptions between counties, as specified. The bill would require the guidance to be issued no later than April 1, 2028, and to remain operative until the CARET program is operative.

Existing law