This post uses a gift link so access should be free. The new work requirements are being forced on California by the federal government. In practice, they’re designed to kick the working poor off of benefits by forcing them to deal with a bunch of paperwork.
There are a bunch of ways people can qualify in theory. But the idea is to make people repeatedly jump through hoops to show that they qualify on the theory that paperwork errors and delays will kick a lot of people out of the program