(a) If regulations require a public or private agency to write a position statement concerning the issues in question in a fair hearing, or if the public or private agency chooses to develop that statement, not less than two business days before the date of a hearing provided for pursuant to this chapter, the public or private agency shall make available to the applicant for, or recipient of, public social services requesting a fair hearing, a copy of the public or private agency’s position statement on the forthcoming hearing. The public or private agency shall make the copy available to the applicant or recipient at the county welfare department or via United States mail, or, upon request, through electronic means. Except as provided in subdivision (c), if the applicant or recipient requests a position statement to be delivered through electronic means, the position statement shall be delivered through secure electronic means if required by state or federal privacy laws. A public or private agency shall be required to comply with this section only if the public or private agency has received a 10-day prior notice of the date and time of the scheduled hearing.

(b) (1) For a hearing to review the agency’s action or inaction regarding aid under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care program, the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program, the Emergency Caregiver Funding Program, the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program, and the Adoption Assistance Program, or for a hearing to review the agency’s denial of an application to be approved as a resource family, the agency shall include as attachments to the position statement copies of the portions of the juvenile case file that it used in making its decision to take the action that is being appealed. The attached portions of the juvenile case file shall remain confidential for purposes of the hearing, shall be available only to the judge or hearing officer and to the parties to the case, and shall not subsequently be released except in accordance with Section 827.

(2) Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the department, until January 1, 2024, may implement this subdivision through an all-county letter or similar instruction. The instruction shall classify the sections of the juvenile case file that will or may be pertinent to an administrative proceeding, and shall provide a process for the fair and prompt exchange of documents between the agency and attorney representatives receiving documents pursuant to subparagraph (S) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 827. The department may provide further instructions through training notes.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the department, by January 1, 2024, shall implement this subdivision by adopting any necessary rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

(c) If the public or private agency does not make the position statement or documentary evidence available not less than two business days before the hearing or if the public or private agency decides to modify the position statement, the hearing shall be postponed upon the request of the applicant or recipient, if an applicant or recipient agrees to waive the right to obtain a decision on the hearing within the deadline that would otherwise be applicable under regulations. A postponement for reason of the public or private agency not making the position statement available within not less than two business days shall be deemed a postponement for good cause for purposes of determining eligibility to any applicable benefits pending disposition of the hearing.

(d) (1) A public or private agency shall not be required to make a copy of its position statement available to an applicant or recipient through electronic means if the agency submits a report by December 31 of each year to the State Department of Social Services that includes both of the following:

(A) The barriers the agency has identified that substantially impede or prohibit the electronic provision of hearing documents.

(B) The steps the agency is taking to address these barriers.

(2) This subdivision shall become inoperative on the date that the statewide electronic case management system administered by the State Department of Social Services becomes operational and has the capacity to provide position statements to claimants through secure electronic means.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 613, Sec. 3. (SB 1071) Effective January 1, 2023.)