California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - July 3, 1997

In a July 11, 1995, decision in Ortega v. Anderson, the Superior Court (Alameda County) ordered the CDSS to allow for the needs of an undocumented spouse living with an AFDC Assistance Unit (AU). On December 11, 1996, the California Supreme Court denied the CDSS’s request for review of the Superior Court order.

Effective July 1, 1997, counties must allow for the needs of an ineligible alien spouse by using the needs computation set out in MPP §44-113.14. This regulation, added to comply with Darces v. Woods, is already used to allow for the needs of ineligible alien children.

Counties must re-evaluate all AFDC cases with ineligible spouses retroactive to December 1996.