County Hearings (General Assistance, County Medical Services Program, Path2Health) are different than State Hearings (CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal) because the California Department of Social Services has jurisdiction (the right and power to interpret and apply the law) over only state and federal social service programs.
Since General Assistance (GA) is fully funded and administered by Shasta County, jurisdiction for disputes within the program lies with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors (BOS), who have delegated this responsibility to the Department of Social Services (DSS).
Although CMSP is mostly funded by Shasta County, the regulations are written and implemented at the state level. Administration for the hearing requests concerning eligibility issues only are delegated to the County’s BOS, who have delegated this responsibility to DSS.
Exception: The CMSP Governing Board does retain jurisdiction over CMSP Scope of Benefit Hearings. Example: CMSP denied a dental surgery or denied prescription glasses.
The County's fair hearing officer is responsible for acting as chairperson of a three-person adjudications panel, which hears and decides on GA hearing requests.
The chairperson begins the hearing by starting the tape recorder and giving an opening statement. The panel will ask the County to state its action taken and why, and to present the evidence and regulations to support its action.
The panel will then ask the claimant to present their side and any evidence. After the panel has heard all of the evidence, the record will be closed and the panel will make a decision.
The panel sends written decisions within 5 days. The decision is made jointly by all panel members and sent to the claimant and the County at the same time.
If there are terms of compliance, the panel will note them in the decision along with the time frame for the county or claimant to comply.
There is no rehearing process for GA, CMSP and Path2Health hearings. If the claimant or the county is dissatisfied with the decision, either party may request a judicial review of the panel’s decision by filing a petition with Shasta County’s Superior Court.