(a) The department shall issue guidance to counties that does both of the following:

(1) Establishes that shelter costs reported by an applicant or recipient on a signed CalFresh application or semiannual report form shall be sufficient for purposes of determining the applicant’s or recipient’s excess shelter costs deduction.

(2)  Prohibits a county human services agency from requesting additional documents to verify excess shelter costs, except when the reported shelter costs are questionable.

(b) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of 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 may implement and administer this section through all-county letters or similar instructions.

(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 90, Sec. 2. (AB 494) Effective July 12, 2019.)