---
type: "Bill"
title: "CalFresh Employment and Training program."
description: "Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training program (CalFresh E&T) , established by federal law, and requires a participating county to demonstrate in its CalFresh E&T plan how it is effectively using CalFresh E&T funds for each of the specified components that the county offers, including work experience or training and job search. Existing law, for a county that elects to participate in the CalFresh E&T, requires an individual to be deferred from a mandatory placement in CalFresh E&T if he or she satisfies any of various criteria, including, among others, residing in a federally determined work surplus area. Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met specified work participation requirements or is otherwise exempt. Existing law directs the State Department of Social Services to annually seek a federal waiver of this limitation, and provides that an eligible county is included in this waiver."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 563"
citation: "California AB 563 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CalFresh Employment and Training program."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arambula"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-02-14"
last_action: "2017-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dab79862-1f06-4179-9d6e-d2ace51277a7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563"
source_hash: "bdb0877769c428fce4a1495dbfd200adc984cfb46b9f9af65cdf21f7bf7b3afa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 563 (20172018) — CalFresh Employment and Training program.

Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training program (CalFresh E&T) , established by federal law, and requires a participating county to demonstrate in its CalFresh E&T plan how it is effectively using CalFresh E&T funds for each of the specified components that the county offers, including work experience or training and job search. Existing law, for a county that elects to participate in the CalFresh E&T, requires an individual to be deferred from a mandatory placement in CalFresh E&T if he or she satisfies any of various criteria, including, among others, residing in a federally determined work surplus area. Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met specified work participation requirements or is otherwise exempt. Existing law directs the State Department of Social Services to annually seek a federal waiver of this limitation, and provides that an eligible county is included in this waiver.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/14/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56399INT)
2. **03/13/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56398AMD)
3. **03/23/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56397AMD)
4. **06/21/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56396AMD)
5. **09/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56395AMD)
6. **09/07/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56394AMD)
7. **09/28/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56392CHP)
8. **AB563** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563)
9. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB563&version=20170AB56393ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 563 ARAMBULA Assembly Third Reading — **76–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB563 Arambula et al. By Wiener — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 563 ARAMBULA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Arambula — primary (person)
- Mayes — coauthor (person)
- Quirk-Silva — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2017-02-27** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-14** Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-22** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 21). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-03-23** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-17** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-26** Coauthors revised.
- **2017-05-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 1. Page 1882.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-14** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-10** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-07** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2740.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-13** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 15 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-13** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended. (Ayes 54. Noes 25. Page 3255.)
- **2017-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 1. Page 3368.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 343, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dab79862-1f06-4179-9d6e-d2ace51277a7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).