Report 2021-613 All Recommendation Responses

Report 2021-613: Pandemic Food Assistance Programs: The California Department of Social Services Has Struggled to Deliver Timely Food Assistance Because of Unclear Federal Expectations and Other Factors Beyond Its Control (Release Date: October 2021)

Recommendation #1 To: Social Services, Department of

To ensure that all eligible families are aware of and have the opportunity to participate in P-EBT, CDSS should—in coordination with CDE as necessary—by no later than February 2022, begin identifying the schools attended by children eligible for P-EBT whose families have not yet received their P-EBT cards or have not used their P-EBT cards.

As recommended, on April 6, 2022, CDSS provided CDE a list of unused P-EBT 2.0 schoolchild cards, with unique identifiers included.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

CDSS provided evidence that it identified and created a list of the schools attended by children eligible for P-EBT whose families have not yet received their P-EBT cards or have not used their P-EBT cards. It also provided evidence that it sent the list to CDE.

CDSS met with CDE on 10/28/2021 to develop a corrective action plan for the audit related findings. To address this recommendation, CDSS has requested a list of unused P-EBT cards from our card vendor Fidelity Information Services (FIS). Once that information is received, our Research Automation, and Data Division (RADD) will then add a unique identifier called a StuKey to the FIS list. Once we have the list of unused P-EBT cards with the unique identifier attached we will provide the list to CDE, which we anticipate happening no later than May 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #2 To: Social Services, Department of

To ensure that all eligible families are aware of and have the opportunity to participate in P-EBT, CDSS should—in coordination with CDE as necessary—by no later than February 2022, begin requesting that the applicable schools contact those families who have not yet received or used their P-EBT cards to inform them of their eligibility for payments and to provide them with both general information about P-EBT and contact information for CDSS.

CDSS provided CDE with a list of unused P-EBT 2.0 schoolchild cares, with unique identifiers included, on April 6, 2022. Additionally, on June 1, 2022, CDSS provided CDE an outreach toolkit consisting of the following:

- Postcard informing families of available benefits

- P-EBT factsheet

- P-EBT flyer

- P-EBT frequently asked questions (FAQ)

- Sample letter to accompany P-EBT card

The CDE will send out a communication to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) once they have completed their internal process in creating a way for LEAs to securely download the toolkit.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

CDSS provided evidence that it created key P-EBT information and coordinated as necessary with CDE to send that information to applicable schools to inform those families that have not yet received or used their P-EBT cards of their eligibility for payments and to provide them with both general information about P-EBT and CDSS P-EBT contact information. CDSS also provided evidence that it sent this information to CDE and that CDE sent this information to applicable schools.

Once the final list of students with unused P-EBT cards has been created, CDSS will provide the list with the StuKeys to CDE. CDE will use this list to identify schools of impacted children and families who have not yet used their P-EBT cards. CDE will provide client education materials to schools and request for the schools to conduct targeted outreach to children who are named on the list. P-EBT outreach materials are currently readily available for use and will be made available to schools.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #3 To: Social Services, Department of

Because child-care age children are SNAP recipients, CDSS should directly contact families of those children who have not yet received or have not yet used their P-EBT cards.

A list of SNAP recipient children under age 6 who have not used their P-EBT cards was obtained on April 6, 2022. Additionally, a direct mail postcard informing families of available benefits was created on March 31, 2022. This postcard will be mailed to all households indicated on the unused card list. CDSS launched the internal mass-mailing process in April 2022 and expect postcards to begin being mailed by July 2022 to identified households.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

CDSS provided evidence that in October 2022, it mailed postcards to the families of those children who have not yet received or have not yet used their P-EBT cards.

For child-care age children, CDSS will pull the list of SNAP recipient children under age 6 who have not used their P-EBT cards. Based on the number of impacted children, we will develop a communication that will either include a direct mailer to those families or a personal contact via the P-EBT helpline.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

Recommendation #4 To: Social Services, Department of

In implementing our recommendations, CDSS should ensure that it does not unduly slow the delivery of P-EBT payments and that its notifications allow families sufficient time to use P-EBT payments before the payments expire.

The audit recommendations are currently being completed. to ensure that clients have ample time to sue P-EBT cards after receiving notifications, CDSS is mending the expungement period for unused P-EBT 2.0 cards to be extended 365 more days and will be seeking United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service's approval. the extension of the expungement period will allow identified households the opportunity to order a new P-EBT card and make purchases once the audit recommendations are completed. The CDSS will provide information confirming if the expungement period extended in a following update.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

For each round of P-EBT 2.0 benefits, mailers have been sent to all families who received a P-EBT card informing them that benefits have been issued. We have also contracted with outreach partners to inform families of the availability of P-EBT benefits statewide. Additionally, CDSS utilized a communications vendor to implement a client education and media campaign. Those efforts included media campaigns, billboards, radio ads, social media posts, and P-EBT website.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

We appreciate CDSS's statements that it has clearly communicated with P-EBT 2.0 recipients. Our recommendation focuses on the timely delivery of EBT cards and allowing families who have not yet used their benefits sufficient time to do so before their expiration. We look forward to reviewing CDSS's efforts in both of these areas during its next update.

All Recommendations in 2021-613

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.