(a) In adopting standards of aid and care for the indigent and dependent poor of the county or city and county, the board of supervisors or the agency authorized by the county charter may, for purposes of determining eligibility for aid and care, deem the income and resources of any person who, as a sponsor of the entry of a general assistance applicant or recipient into the United States, executed an affidavit of support or similar agreement with respect to that applicant or recipient, and the income and resources of the sponsor’s spouse, to be the income and resources of that applicant or recipient, in accordance with subdivisions (b) and (c), for a period of three years after the individual’s entry into the United States. Any such deemed income shall be treated as unearned income of the general assistance applicant or recipient.
(b) (1) The amount of income of a sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse that shall be deemed to be the unearned income of an alien for any month shall be determined as follows:
(A) The total amount of earned and unearned income of the sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse, if the spouse is living with the sponsor, shall be determined for that month.
(B) The amount determined under subparagraph (A) shall be reduced by an amount equal to the following:
(i) One hundred seventy-five dollars ($175), or 20 percent of the total of any amounts received by the sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse in that month as wages or salary or as net earnings from self-employment, plus the full amount of any costs incurred by them in producing self-employment income in that month, whichever is less.
(ii) The amount of maximum aid established pursuant to Section 11450 for a family of the same size and composition as the sponsor and those other individuals living in the same household as the sponsor who are claimed by the sponsor as dependents for purposes of determining the sponsor’s federal personal income tax liability, but whose needs are not taken into account in making a determination for eligibility for Aid to Families with Dependent Children program under Section 602(a)(7) of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(iii) Any amounts paid by the sponsor or the sponsor’s spouse to individuals not living in the sponsor’s household who are claimed by the sponsor as dependents for purposes of determining the sponsor’s federal personal income tax liability.
(iv) Any payments of spousal or child support by the sponsor or the sponsor’s spouse with respect to individuals not living in the sponsor’s household.
(2) The amount of resources of a sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse that shall be deemed to be the resources of an alien for any month shall be the total amount of resources determined as if the sponsor were applying for general assistance under this chapter of the sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse, if the spouse is living with the sponsor, and in accordance with the standards adopted by the county or city and county, reduced by one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500).
(c) Any sponsor of an alien, and the alien, shall be jointly and severally liable for an amount equal to any overpayment of aid made to the alien during the period of three years after the alien’s entry into the United States, on account of the sponsor’s failure to provide correct information under this section, except where that sponsor was without fault, or where good cause of that failure existed.
(d) In any case where a person is the sponsor of two or more aliens who are living in the same home, the income and resources of the sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse, to the extent they would be deemed the income and resources of any one of these aliens under subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive, shall be divided into two or more equal shares, the number of shares being the same as the number of these aliens, and the income and resources of each of those aliens shall be deemed to include one share.
(e) As a condition to providing aid pursuant to this chapter, the county or city and county may require the alien to provide the name and address of the alien’s sponsor and may require the alien or the alien’s sponsor to provide all information regarding the income and assets of the sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse necessary to enforce this section.
(f) The deeming of sponsor’s and sponsor’s spouse’s income and resources shall not apply to an alien whose sponsor has abandoned his or her duty to support the alien. For purposes of this section, abandonment of the duty to support shall include, but not be limited to, abuse, battery, neglect, or refusal to support. Evidence of abandonment may be demonstrated by documentary evidence or collateral statements.
(g) This section shall not apply to an alien to which any of the following applies:
(1) Admitted to the United States as a result of the application, prior to April 1, 1980, of Section 1153(a)(7) of Title 8 of the United States Code.
(2) Admitted to the United States as a result of the application, after March 31, 1980, of Section 1157(c) of Title 8 of the United States Code.
(3) Paroled into the United States as a refugee under Section 1182(d)(5) of Title 8 of the United States Code.
(4) Granted political asylum by the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to Section 1158 of Title 8 of the United States Code.
(5) A Cuban or Haitian entrant, as defined in Section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-422).
(Added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 64, Sec. 51. Effective June 30, 1993.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018