(a) The purpose of this chapter is to provide payment to meet the needs of recipients under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000), under emergency or special circumstances in the event that the federal government makes no provision for that category payment or in the event that the payment from the federal government program is lost, stolen, or likely to be delayed beyond four days.
(b) The payments provided for under this chapter are also available to the recipients of programs provided for under Article 7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 and Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 18937) of Part 6.