SB 560: Public social services.

The bill aims to reform the state's public social services system, focusing on reducing errors and penalties for recipients. It would delete the provision for criminal penalties for attempting welfare fraud and establish new penalties for those who obtain or retain aid through deception. The bill would also require counties to determine if benefits were authorized due to errors in the automated welfare system and prohibit referrals for criminal action in such cases. The bill would limit criminal prosecution for overpayments or overissuances of benefits to specific situations and prohibit perjury charges based on statements made to a county welfare department. It would also provide that overpayments determined to be administrative errors should only be collected administratively by the county. Additionally, the bill would establish procedures for reviewing recipient case files to identif…