(a) (1) The department, in consultation with stakeholders, shall identify the necessary elements of a county disaster plan, and shall issue guidance to county human services agencies informing them of the obligations to submit a disaster plan pursuant to paragraph (2), and of the necessary elements that shall be included in the plan.

(2) A county human services agency shall annually submit to the department a disaster plan that includes the creation of mutual aid regions consisting of two or more counties to ensure there are sufficient resources necessary to continue adequate access to benefits during a disaster. The disaster plan shall include elements specified in paragraph (1).

(b) The department shall offer training on Disaster CalFresh to county human services agencies and organizations, institutions, and agencies receiving federal reimbursements pursuant to Section 18904.3.

(c) The department shall maintain updated Disaster CalFresh materials, including, but not limited to, state and county disaster plans, Disaster CalFresh applications, the Disaster CalFresh Internet Web site, and a Disaster CalFresh outreach flyer in all required languages.

(d) If the President of the United States issues a major disaster declaration for individual assistance, the department and the county human services agency shall request to operate a federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) for the regions affected by the major disaster. The request shall include a waiver request to provide automatic, mass replacement benefits to eligible households and a waiver request to allow households to purchase hot, prepared foods at authorized retailers with their benefits.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the department shall maximize the capacity of counties to maintain timely, adequate, and safe access to all applicable benefits during a disaster. In order to ensure that disaster victims are not required to travel through dangerous routes to apply for, and to receive their electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card to access, Disaster CalFresh or replacement benefits, the department shall do both of the following:

(1) If requested by an affected county, provide to the county and its contracted county consortium staff support necessary for out-stationed application intake locations to support timely, adequate, and safe access to Disaster CalFresh during or following a disaster.

(2) Maintain and make available to affected counties, free of charge, technology and equipment to support the mobile issuance of EBT cards to recipients of Disaster CalFresh or replacement benefits.

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 501, Sec. 6. (AB 607) Effective January 1, 2018.)