California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - February 24, 1999

Reference: CDSS All County Letter 98-58

ACL 98-58 dated July 31, 1998, advised counties how to proceed if they base an action on county criteria. First, the county will have to cite the specific state regulation that gives the county discretion to use county criteria. For example, if in a welfare to work (WtW) case, the county chooses to limit an exemption for the mother of an infant to 12 weeks instead of six months, the county would have to cite MPP§ 42-712.471(b) which says: "On a case by case basis, the county may reduce the (six month) period of exemption to the first 12 weeks .... (1) The county shall establish criteria by which the period of exemption ... is reduced...".

Once the county has cited the appropriate state authority that gives it discretion to use its own rules, the county must then provide a copy of that written county authority. If the authority is a county plan, the county must provide a copy of the applicable portion of the county plan. If, as is more likely, the county authority is not in the county plan, but rather is in a county manual, the county must provide a copy of the applicable manual section as evidence in the hearing.

In the above example, if the county contended that the claimant was only entitled to a 12 week exemption after the baby was born, but failed to present the any county authority to reduce the six month exemption to 12 weeks, the judge should grant the claim and permit a six month exemption.

If the county authority is provided, the Judge should decide if such authority was correctly applied in the case.