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Committee advances AB 42 to exempt student scholarships and fellowships from CalWORKs and CalFresh income tests
Summary
AB 42 would clarify that merit‑based scholarships, grants, loans and fellowships are excluded from income calculations for CalWORKs and CalFresh, aligning CalFresh with existing CalWORKs exclusions. The committee voted to pass the bill to Appropriations.
Assemblymember A motion presented AB 42 to the Committee on Human Services seeking to exempt merit‑based private scholarships, grants, loans and fellowships from income calculations under CalWORKs and CalFresh.
The author told the committee that although CalWORKs and CalFresh already exclude need‑based educational funding, they do not explicitly exempt merit‑based private scholarships and similar awards. That ambiguity, the author and student witnesses said, can deter students from applying for scholarships or cause recipients to lose benefits they rely on. “Students like me are working multiple jobs to provide for myself and family while applying scholarships and fellowships and are being counted as income,” said Yahira Guerrero, a Santa Monica College student who testified in support.
Parshan Khosravi, California policy director at U Aspire, said the bill seeks parity between the two benefit programs and removes a disincentive that can “effectively tax” low‑income students by displacing safety‑net benefits. Witnesses said they worked with the California Department of Social Services to clarify fiscal concerns raised during the previous legislative cycle.
Several nonprofits, unions and county officials testified in favor of AB 42 during the hearing; committee members moved the bill to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Committee testimony and the bill language noted the objective is to preserve student resources for education and to reduce administrative confusion for students and county staff processing benefits.
