DHA SB 119 Change to Sanctions
UPE met and conferred again on October 1, 2026, with representatives from DHA regarding changes to the handling of WTW sanctions. Under the state mandate, all sanctions must be cured on intake (if there has been a 30-day break in aid), during recertification, and now during continuing contacts where clients express a desire to cure the sanction and an intent to participate in WTW activities. The state promised a change to CAL-SAWs that would automatically cure the sanctions at intake, but they have pushed back this system change to November. These changes will impact intake, continuing, and welfare to work.
UPE’s goal was that the WTW workers handle sanctions as much as possible. This is the current practice. However, the changes in the law require that WTW sanctions be cleared at the time of benefit authorization. This means, until the state automates the process, intake workers will have to cure the sanction. The Department claims this is a simple process that should only take a couple of minutes. UPE proposed that the County extend the intake window by 15 minutes, but the Department rejected this proposal. Ultimately, the parties agreed that intake workers would do the simple curing of sanctions during intake.
However, if there were any issues with changing the sanction status or if it created any problems on the case, the Department agreed that these could be escalated to a supervisor or program specialist who would resolve the issue so the HSS could continue with their intake. UPE also only agreed to this change until December of 2026. The State should have updated the CAL-SAWs system by then to make the intake process automatic.
If a sanctioned client contacts a continuing worker and expresses a desire to cure the sanction, UPE and the Department agreed that the continuing workers would create a task to send to the assigned WTW workers to contact the client. In instances where cases are not assigned to a WTW worker, the continuing HSS will make a note that the client wishes to cure their sanction. Then, the continuing worker will make a PAR task to have clerical assign the case to the next WTW worker as is normal.
Finally, the parties agreed to a six-month hold harmless for WTW workers related to timelines for contacting clients. UPE is concerned that with non-WTW workers changing sanction status, it’s possible WTW workers will not know when a client that was in sanction needs to be contacted.
UPE thanks Olivia Brown, Nichole Gorman, Michelle Moyer, Debbie Ruiz, and Tony DeRego for their advocacy and representation at this meeting.
