2023 California Code › Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC › DIVISION 9 - PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES › PART 3 - AID AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE › CHAPTER 2 - California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act › ARTICLE 9 - Evaluation of CalWORKs Program Implementation › Section 11523.6.

11523.6. (a) Subject to an appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, the State Department of Social Services shall contract for the development of training for county CalWORKs staff. The department shall enter into one or more contracts to develop this training no later than July 1, 2022.
(b) The department shall consult with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the exclusive representatives of county eligibility workers, client advocates, and other stakeholders, as deemed appropriate, in the development of this training. In developing the training, the department shall consider and draw upon, as appropriate, training and other materials already developed or in use by county human services agencies.
(c) The training required pursuant to subdivision (a) shall focus on all of the following:
(1) Resources to assist counties in implementing CalWORKs 2.0 and Cal-OAR and embedding these approaches into the program.
(2) Incorporating and building upon principles from CalWORKs 2.0, and relevant data from the Cal-OAR efforts, taking into account work counties have already accomplished in both areas of training focus.
(3) Acknowledging and addressing the intentional shift to a trauma-informed, anti-racist, anti-stigma, and implicit bias-aware culture and climate in the program, geared towards positive outcomes for child and family health and well-being.
(4) The impact of implicit bias, explicit bias, and systemic bias on public benefit programs and the effect this can have on individuals seeking eligibility for and services through public benefit programs.
(5) Actionable steps individuals can take to recognize and address their own implicit biases.
(d) The department shall work with the stakeholders listed in subdivision (b) to develop a plan for disseminating and delivering the training required pursuant to subdivision (a). This plan shall be shared with the Legislature no later than December 1, 2022. The plan shall include all of the following:
(1) The types and classifications of county staff who are to be trained and in what order the training of those staff should be prioritized.
(2) The entity or entities responsible for providing the training to counties, including consideration of providing direct training as well as train-the-trainer modes of training.
(3) The cost of providing the developed training to all identified staff in paragraph (1) in all counties.
(4) The proposed timeline for rolling out and implementing training in all counties.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, contracts established pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the personal services contracting requirements of Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, from the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual, and shall not be subject to the approval of the Department of General Services, including provisions pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5. of Division 3 of the Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 11546 of the Government Code, contracts established pursuant to this section are exempt from review or approval of any division of the Department of Technology, upon approval from the Department of Finance.
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 85, Sec. 44. (AB 135) Effective July 16, 2021.)