California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - July 3, 2002

Supercedes: ACL 01-36

Generally, the regulations require all public assistance, social services and administrative claiming records and supporting documents to be retained for three years from the date the state submits the last expenditure report to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. Some records require a retention period of more than three years.

County welfare warrants must be retained for five years. Also, warrant registers must be retained for five years.

Counties are required to track TANF and CalWORKs time on aid. Welfare case records that support the tracking of time on aid for CalWORKs recipients must be retained. Case records must be retained until the system is validated for completeness and accuracy.

All food stamp program records are to be retained for three years from the month of origin. All food stamp fiscal records and accountable documents are to be retained for three years from the date of fiscal or administrative closure. Food stamp case records that are part of a public assistance case record must be retained in accordance with regulations regarding public assistance records retention (i.e., MPP §23-350).