MENDOCINO CO., 11/8/26 — Until June 1, being a veteran was enough to keep someone on CalFresh in Mendocino County without proving they worked. Now it isn’t.
The county has 246 people on CalFresh who are under 65 and have certified that they served in the military. Rachel Ebel-Elliott, deputy director of the county Department of Social Services, gave that count in an email Nov. 6. Veterans Day is Wednesday, Nov. 11.
CalFresh is California’s name for SNAP, the federal food aid program. A federal rule limits some adults on it to three months of benefits in three years. The state calls them able-bodied adults without dependents. To keep their food aid past three months, they must work or take part in a work activity. That means at least 20 hours a week, or 80 hours a month.
A 2023 law, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, gave three groups a break from that limit for a time. They were veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults under 25 who were in foster care when they turned 18.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act took all three exemptions away. President Donald Trump signed it on July 4, 2025. It also raised the age limit for the rule from 54 to 64.
The state put the changes into effect June 1, 2026. Its Department of Social Services says in its guidance to counties that meeting one of those three conditions “alone no longer qualifies someone for an exemption.” A veteran can still be exempt for another reason, such as caring for a child under 14.
The state started counting months toward the limit in June, so the first cutoffs came Sept. 1, Ebel-Elliott said. Five people in the county lost CalFresh that day. An estimated 98 lost it Oct. 1, according to her figures.
Those counts cover everyone who reached the limit, not only veterans. The November count isn’t final. It is “likely to be similar to the number from October,” she said.
The age change brought people 55 to 64 under the rule. The county has 1,798 CalFresh recipients in that age group, Ebel-Elliott said.
An area may qualify for a waiver from the three-month limit if its unemployment rate is above 10%. Mendocino County’s rate isn’t, so the county isn’t on the waiver list, she said.
The county’s figures don’t say how many of the 246 veterans have lost their food aid since September.