CaliforniaFood assistance: disasters: utilities.
What it does
Existing federal law provides for the federal 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, through the federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP), provides for short-term food assistance benefits to families suffering in the wake of a major disaster. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the county human services agency, if the President of the United States issues a major disaster declaration for individual assistance, to request to operate D-SNAP for the regions affected by the major disaster.
More detail
Existing uncodified law, in the event of a declaration by the Governor or the President of the United States of a major disaster, continuously appropriates to the department from the General Fund an amount necessary to cover specified costs relating to the administration of disaster food assistance services, but not to exceed $300,000 per disaster declaration.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
This bill would authorize the commission and the governing boards of local publicly owned electric utilities to establish any memoranda of understanding or other agreements necessary to direct electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to timely provide data to the department to maximize food assistance, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to make a reasonable effort to provide aggregated customer outage data, for outages of 4 hours or longer, within 7 calendar days of a request from the department, as specified. The bill would require the department to maximize the amount of assistance requested and received through D-SNAP and all other federally funded nutrition assistance, including utilizing that provided utility data, in order to timely seek automated mass replacement of specified federally funded nutrition assistance programs. The bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature related to food assistance, as specified.
This bill would require electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to have a point of contact for the department as necessary to provide the requested data. The bill would require the commission to provide technical assistance to the department, including technical assistance to support the above-described report. Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, and by imposing additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.
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Where it stands
- Introduced
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became Law
Looking ahead
No hearings or votes scheduled.
History
- 2025
- Oct 13Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 709, Statutes of 2025.Latest
- Oct 13Approved by the Governor Gavin Newsom.Became Law
- Sep 23Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.To Governor
- Sep 12
- Vote recorded AB 777 Celeste Rodriguez Concurrence in Senate Amendments. Result: pass.Lower
- Sep 11Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3334.).Major
- Sep 10In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- Vote recorded 3rd Reading AB777 Celeste Rodriguez By Stern. Result: pass.Upper
- Sep 10Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2813.).Passed Senate
- Sep 8Read second time. Ordered to third reading.Minor
- Sep 5Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.Major
- Aug 29Read second time. Ordered to third reading.Minor
- Vote recorded Do pass. Result: pass.Upper
- Aug 29From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29).Minor
- Aug 25In committee: Referred to suspense file.Minor
- Vote recorded Placed on suspense file. Result: pass.Upper
- Aug 13In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- Jul 8From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.Minor
- Jul 7
- Vote recorded Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]. Result: pass.Upper
- Jul 2From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S.Major
- Jul 1From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUMAN S. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S.Minor
- Vote recorded Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services]. Result: pass.Upper
- Jun 4Referred to Coms. on E., U & C. and HUMAN S.Minor
- May 23In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.Minor
- Vote recorded AB 777 Celeste Rodriguez Consent Calendar Second Day. Result: pass.Lower
- May 23Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 1662.)Passed Assembly
- May 15Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.Minor
- May 14From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 14).Minor
- Vote recorded Do pass. To Consent Calendar. Result: pass.Lower
- May 5Re-referred to Com. on APPR.Minor
- May 1Read second time and amended.Major
- Apr 30From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 29).Major
- Apr 29
- Vote recorded Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Result: pass.Lower
- Apr 28Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S.Minor
- Apr 24From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended.Major
- Apr 24From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S.Minor
- Apr 23
- Vote recorded Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Result: pass.Lower
- Apr 7Re-referred to Com. on U. & E.Minor
- Apr 3From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on U. & E. Read second time and amended.Major
- Apr 2In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- Mar 3Referred to Com. on U. & E.Minor
- Feb 19From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- Feb 18Read first time. To print.Introduced