Signing the California SAWS 2A SAR Rights and Responsibilities Form

The SAWS 2A SAR is California’s “Rights, Responsibilities and Other Important Information” form, a one-time acknowledgment you sign to confirm you understand the rules of CalWORKs, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal.¹ It is not the semi-annual report itself. That is the SAR 7, a separate form you file every six months. The 2A SAR is the document where you certify, in writing, that your eligibility worker went over your rights and reporting duties with you and that you agree to comply with them.

When You Sign the Form

Your county eligibility worker goes through the SAWS 2A SAR with you at two points. The first is your initial application interview, which can happen by phone or in person.² The second is your annual redetermination or recertification, when you complete a new SAWS 2 PLUS statement of facts and re-sign the 2A SAR to confirm the rules still apply.¹

Between those annual check-ins, your routine reporting runs through the SAR 7 Eligibility Status Report, filed once during each twelve-month certification period. The 2A SAR is where you acknowledge that obligation; the SAR 7 is where you carry it out.

What Rights You Are Confirming You Understand

The form lists 27 rights. A handful come up often enough in practice that it is worth knowing them before you sign:

Your county must decide eligibility within 45 days for CalWORKs and Medi-Cal (90 days if a disability determination is needed) and within 30 days for CalFresh.
If you look eligible for expedited CalFresh, you get an interview that same day and benefits within three days.
You can request an interpreter and translated forms and notices if you do not read or speak English.
The county must notify you in writing any time your application is approved, denied, or your benefits change or stop.
You have 90 days to request a state hearing if you disagree with any county action on your case.
If you move to another California county, your CalWORKs and Medi-Cal benefits continue without interruption as long as you remain eligible.
Your records stay confidential unless a felony arrest warrant has been issued for you or the law otherwise requires disclosure.

The form also confirms your right to review your own case file, request emergency payments when CalWORKs income drops unexpectedly, and request special-needs payments for things like medically required diets or transportation to ongoing medical care.¹

What Reporting You Are Agreeing to Do

This is the practical heart of the form. California uses semi-annual reporting for CalWORKs and CalFresh, which means you report comprehensively twice a year rather than every time something small changes: once on your annual SAWS 2 PLUS and once on the SAR 7 in between.³

There are three exceptions. These must be reported within 10 days, by phone or in writing, no matter where you are in the six-month cycle:

Monthly household income that crosses the Income Reporting Threshold (IRT) for your household size. Your county’s notice of action tells you the exact dollar figure, which depends in part on the income used to calculate your current grant.⁴
An address change. Failing to report a move cannot, by itself, cut your benefits, but the 10-day duty still applies.
Anyone in the household fleeing a felony warrant or violating conditions of parole or probation.

Everything else, including changes in household members, employment, and expenses, goes on the SAR 7 at the end of the six-month period.

The SAR 7 is due by the 5th of the submit month, which is the sixth month after your application or most recent recertification. It is considered late if the county has not received it by the 11th. If you miss that date, the county sends a discontinuance notice and must also try to reach you by phone or in person, or by mailed reminder at least five days before the end of the month. You still have a cure window: submit a complete SAR 7 on or before the first working day of the next payment period and the county rescinds the discontinuance.⁵ Miss that one, and your case closes. Reopening generally means applying from scratch.

How Income Over the IRT Is Handled

When you report income over the IRT, the county verifies it and recalculates. If the increase makes you financially ineligible, benefits end with written notice at the end of the month the income was received. If you remain eligible but your grant should be lower, the reduction starts the first of the following month. The county cannot charge you an overpayment for the month after you reported if it did not have enough time to give you 10 days’ notice before reducing your grant.⁴

What Signing Commits You to on Penalties

A full section of the 2A SAR warns about intentional program violations, and the certification you sign at the end confirms you understand these consequences along with the penalties for providing false information or failing to report required changes.

For CalFresh, the administrative disqualification periods for an intentional program violation are:

First violation: 12-month loss of CalFresh benefits.
Second violation: 24-month loss of CalFresh benefits.
Third violation: permanent disqualification.

For CalWORKs cash aid, the form warns that penalties range from six months to permanent loss depending on the offense and prior violations.¹ Only the person who committed the violation loses benefits; other household members keep their eligibility, but the household’s total allotment is recalculated without the disqualified member’s share.

Fraud can also trigger federal criminal prosecution. Under federal law, knowingly misusing benefits worth $5,000 or more is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000, up to 20 years in prison, or both. For amounts between $100 and $4,999, the first-offense penalty drops to a maximum $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Misuse of less than $100 in benefits is a misdemeanor carrying up to a $1,000 fine and one year in jail.⁶

Your Right to a State Hearing

The 2A SAR confirms your right to request a state hearing if you disagree with any county action: an application denial, a benefit reduction, a grant termination, or a failure to process your application on time. The request goes to the California Department of Social Services, with or without an authorized representative, and you do not need to file a claim with the board of supervisors first.⁷

Timing is what makes the difference between a hearing with your benefits running and a hearing with them stopped. Request a hearing within 10 days of the date the county mailed the notice, and you get “aid paid pending”: your benefits continue at the same amount until an Administrative Law Judge decides your case. After 10 days you can still request a hearing within the 90-day window, but benefits may stop in the meantime unless you show good cause for the delay.

Aid paid pending has limits. It does not apply when your certification period expires while the hearing is pending; you have to complete recertification separately to keep benefits. It does not apply if the county closed your case for not submitting a SAR 7 and you acknowledge you did not turn one in. And it does not apply to mass changes affecting all recipients statewide, such as a federal benefit adjustment.

Signing and Submitting the Form

The certification at the end of the 2A SAR asks you to confirm four things with your signature: that you understand your rights and responsibilities, that you agree to comply with them, that you received a copy of the form, and that you understand the penalties for false information or unreported changes.¹ If you applied for CalWORKs, you also certify that you received a copy of the Welfare-to-Work Informing Notice (WTW 5). If you applied for Medi-Cal, you certify that you received the MC 219 and that its contents were explained to you.

You can submit the signed form through any of the usual channels:

BenefitsCal: log in at BenefitsCal.com, select “Upload a Document,” enter the document details, select your file, and upload. You get a confirmation receipt with the date and time.⁸
In person at your county social services office. Most offices have a drop box for after-hours submissions.
By U.S. mail to your county office. Give yourself lead time; the form has to be received, not just postmarked, by any applicable deadline.

You can download and print the form from the California Department of Social Services website or pick one up at your county office.² Keep your copy with your other case paperwork. If a dispute comes up later about what you were told at intake, the signed 2A SAR is the record of what the county walked you through.

1
California Department of Social Services. Rights, Responsibilities and Other Important Information
2
Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. Applying for Cash Aid (Application and Forms)
3
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 11265.1 – Redetermination of Eligibility and Grant Amounts
4
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 11265.3 – Income Reporting Threshold
5
California Department of Social Services. Manual of Policies and Procedures Section 40-181.222
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC 2024 – Violations and Enforcement
7
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 10950
8
BenefitsCal. Ready to Upload a Document? Here’s How It Works