SR 01-12 Dated 07/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases miscellaneous Food Stamp policy revisions due to finalization of federal regulations implementing several provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2001. Food Stamp policy changes include a modification in the concept of "significant return" when determining a vehicle’s inaccessibility as a resource, revised treatment of vehicles, a new Electric-Only Standard, new criteria guiding use of the utility standards, revised treatment of children’s earnings, and revised penalties for Food Stamp recipients who have been disqualified in another program.

Food Stamp Manual (FSM) Chapters 100, 200, 400, 500, 600, and 800 were revised accordingly. Technical corrections were also made to FSM 200. In addition, capital costs as an allowable expense when determining self-employment income in the Food Stamp Program, as released by SR 01-17 dated June 2001, was defined to prevent potential confusion. Refer to the UNRELATED TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS and UNRELATED POLICY CLARIFICATION sections below for details.

POLICY

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

Section 105.05 Failure to Cooperate

Section 161.03 Required Verification for Redetermination/Recertification

Section 211.03 Disqualified Individuals

Section 211.11 Who Is Not a Member

Section 237.05 Two Issuances in the Same Month

PART 407 TREATMENT OF RESOURCES

PART 409 COMMON TYPES OF RESOURCES: INACCESSIBLE RESOURCE

PART 409 COMMON TYPES OF RESOURCES: VEHICLES

PART 413 VERIFICATION OF RESOURCES

PART 511 COMMON TYPES OF INCOME: EARNINGS OF CHILDREN

PART 601, TABLE I FOOD STAMP DEDUCTIONS

Section 603.09 Other Allowable Deductions: Shelter Deduction

Section 603.09 Other Allowable Deductions: Utility Standards

Section 611.05 Income of Disqualified and Excluded Individuals

PART 827 DISQUALIFICATION PENALTIES

Revised Treatment of Vehicles as Resources

New policy simplifies the concept of "significant return" when determining the inaccessibility of a vehicle’s value as a resource, by assigning it a flat value of $1500. In addition, a provision to the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2001 allows states to apply their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) vehicle policy to the Food Stamp Program when doing so would result in a lower attribution of resources to the Food Stamp household. In accordance with this provision, the Food Stamp vehicle resource determination process was modified and two categories of vehicles currently excluded in the NH TANF program are now also excluded in the Food Stamp program.

New Definition of Significant Return

When determining Food Stamp eligibility, vehicles are considered inaccessible resources, and excluded from the resource determination process, if the sale of the vehicle would not provide a "significant return." Previous policy defined "significant return" as providing a return of more than ½ of the applicable resource standard for the household (i.e., either $1500 for households with a member age 60 or older, or $1000 for all other households). New policy simplifies the concept of significant return by assigning it a flat value of $1500, thereby excluding from the Food Stamp resource test all vehicles that are likely to produce a return of $1500 or less. Vehicles classified as an inaccessible resource under new policy must be reevaluated at every recertification.

FSM 407, Treatment of Resources, and FSM 409, Common Types of Resources: Inaccessible Resource, were revised to add the new definition of significant return. The requirement that individuals must provide verification of the value of their vehicles considered inaccessible resources at redeterminations or recertifications, was added to FSM 161.03, Required Verification for Redetermination/Recertification, and FSM 413, VERIFICATION OF RESOURCES.

Addition of TANF Vehicle Exclusions to Food Stamp Vehicle Policy

The following categories of vehicles continue to be excluded from the Food Stamp resource test:

·   income-producing vehicles;

·   vehicles used as a household’s home;

·   leased vehicles;

·   vehicles used to transport a disabled household member;

·   vehicles needed to transport fuel or water;

·   vehicles that are jointly owned with a non-household member ("and" linking the owners on the title); and

·   vehicles that are considered inaccessible resources.

NOTE: The categories of Food Stamp vehicles known as the household’s "primary registered vehicle" and "additional registered vehicles customarily used for work or training," have been made obsolete by new policy.

Food Stamp vehicle exclusion policy will now also include the following TANF vehicle exclusions:

·   1 vehicle per adult assistance group member, regardless of value or ownership, and 1 vehicle per adult household member disqualified or excluded from the assistance group. For example, recreational vehicles and vehicles belonging to minors in the household may be excluded as long as the total number of vehicles excluded does not exceed the number of adult household members; and

·   junk vehicles which are unregistered and:

-   used only to supply parts for the household’s main vehicle;

-   in such dilapidated condition that the vehicle cannot be reasonably repaired for sale or use; or

-   can only be sold for scrap or parts.

In summary, all vehicles that can be excluded based on usage, according to new Food Stamp policy, will be excluded first (e.g. farm machinery, income-producing, junk, etc). Of the remaining vehicles, any that have an equity value of $1,500 or less will be excluded as an inaccessible resource. Finally, 1 vehicle per adult assistance group member and 1 vehicle per adult household member disqualified or excluded from the assistance group, will be excluded by first selecting the vehicle(s) with the highest equity value.

After every vehicle that can be excluded has been excluded, any remaining vehicles are to be counted towards the household’s resource limit using the following revised resource determination process:

·   Determine the Fair Market Value in excess of $4650 and the equity value of one licensed vehicle per adult household member and any licensed vehicle a minor drives to work, school, training, or to look for work, and count the lower figure for each car towards the household’s resource limit.

·   For all remaining vehicles, licensed or unlicensed, count the equity value as the resource value.

FSM 409, Common Types of Resources: Vehicles, was revised to add the expanded categories of excluded vehicles and the new process for determining the resource value of household vehicles. Organizational changes were also made to improve readability.

Utility Standards

Electric-Only Standard

An Electric-Only Standard of $125 has been added to the Food Stamp allowances used when calculating a household’s shelter costs. Households may use the Electric-Only Standard when the only household utility cost, separate and apart from rent and mortgage payments, is for non-heating/non-cooling electricity.

The methodology used to obtain the Electric-Only Standard reflects the FNS-approved methodology used to obtain the currently effective utility standards released by SR 00-37, dated October 2000, and will be re-evaluated with the other utility standards as of October 2001.

FSM 601, Table I, FOOD STAMP DEDUCTIONS, FSM 603.09, Other Allowable Deduction: Utility Standards, and FSM 611.05, Income of Disqualified and Excluded Individuals, were revised accordingly.

Utilities-Only Standard

Verification of incurred costs for at least 2 utilities separate and apart from rent and mortgage payments is now required for entitlement to the Utilities-Only Standard. In addition, the costs for installation, use, or maintenance of a well and/or septic system are now considered allowable utility costs.

To satisfy the 2-utility requirement, Food Stamp households may use incurred costs from any combination of the following:

·   phone;

·   non-heating/non-cooling electricity;

·   cooking fuel;

·   trash removal;

·   water or sewage fees; or

·   costs for installation, use, or maintenance of a well and/or septic system.

Households able to verify that they own and currently use a well or septic system are not required to verify actual well or septic system costs for purposes of satisfying the 2-utility requirement. Verified ownership and use of a well and/or septic system is automatically considered an incurred monthly expense. For example, a Food Stamp household incurs monthly electricity costs separate and apart from rent or mortgage. The household also owns a well, whose costs have been absorbed into their monthly mortgage payment. By virtue of the household’s ownership and use of the well, although there are no verifiable monthly costs separate and apart from their mortgage, the household is entitled to the Utilities-Only Standard, with electric costs and well-ownership satisfying the 2-utility requirement.

Food Stamp households may still choose to use actual costs, including actual costs for ownership, use, or maintenance of wells and/or septic systems, instead of the utility standards, per policy.

FSM 603.09, Other Allowable Deductions: Shelter Deduction, and FSM 603.09, Other Allowable Deduction: Utility Standards, were revised to include the new requirements for the Utilities-Only Standard.

Telephone-Only Standard

New policy entitles households that incur cell phone or telephone calling card expenses due to not having regular telephone service, to the full Telephone-Only Standard. Previous policy restricted receipt of the telephone allowance to households whose only costs separate and apart from rent and mortgage payments were for basic touchtone phone service.

Only one telephone allowance per household is allowed, regardless of the number of household phone lines or phone services, and entitlement to the Telephone-Only Standard is based upon verification of incurred phone costs, regardless of actual expenses. For example, a household with traditional household telephone service incurs $44 monthly telephone costs. A second household with no traditional household telephone service incurs $98 monthly cell phone costs. A third household, again with no traditional household telephone service, incurs $5 monthly telephone calling card costs. All three households are entitled to the current Telephone-Only Standard of $28. FSM 603.09, Other Allowable Deductions: Utility Standards, was revised to incorporate the expanded access to the telephone allowance.

Special Situation Households

Current food stamp policy allows the full Heating and Utilities Standard for those households who have received assistance from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) within the past year. New policy expands this provision by also entitling those households who state they anticipate applying for LIHEAP within the next 12 months, to the full Heating and Utilities Standard.

In addition, households that live in separate residences but share a single utility meter, including households residing in public housing, are now entitled to the full heat and utilities standard. Previous policy did not permit an allowance for households that shared a single utility meter.

FSM 603.09, Other Allowable Deductions: Utility Standards, was revised to incorporate both clarifications to special situation households.

Earnings of Children

FSM 511, Common Types of Income: Earnings of Children, was revised to reflect that except for Heads of Households age 16 and 17, earned income received by any household member age 17 and under, regardless of student status, is excluded. Earned income of dependent children, including students, is counted beginning the month following the month the individual turns 18. The title of PART 511 was revised accordingly.

Penalties for Disqualification of a Food Stamp Recipient in Another Program

Food Stamp clients will no longer be disqualified in the Food Stamp program for a comparable disqualification in another program. Current procedures restricting an increase in Food Stamp benefits when a household experiences a decrease in TANF benefits due to a sanction, remain unchanged. Clients, however, will not be further penalized by additionally being disqualified from the Food Stamp program. FSM 105.05, Failure to Cooperate, FSM 211.03, Disqualified Individuals, and FSM 827, DISQUALIFICATION PENALTIES, were revised accordingly. The specified sections as well as FSM 211.11, Who Is Not a Member, were also rewritten and reorganized for increased clarity.

UNRELATED TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

FSM 237.05, Two Issuances in the Same Month, was revised to remove a reference to an outdated procedure specifying the use of Form 444 when issuing 2 benefit allotments in 1 month to battered women and children residing in shelters. This process is now automated.

In addition, text describing the issuance of benefits to battered women and children was removed from FSM 211.11, Who Is Not a Member, and replaced with a link to FSM 237.05, to enhance readability and logical flow.

UNRELATED POLICY CLARIFICATION

In SR 01-17, dated June 2001, policy was released specifying that capital costs are now an allowable expense when determining self-employment income in the Food Stamp Program. To eliminate potential confusion, the following definition has been provided: Capital costs, when determining self-employment income in the Food Stamp Program, means the payments on the principal and interest of the purchase price of income-producing real estate and capital assets, equipment, machinery, and other durable goods. As of June 1, 2001, these expenses are now allowable deductions when determining self-employment income.

SYSTEMS CHANGES

New Food Stamp Vehicle Policy

Case workers will continue to enter the vehicle information on HEIGHTS for each vehicle according to current procedures. For example, the case worker will continue to enter the type of each vehicle, the Fair Market Value and equity value of each vehicle, and the case worker will continue to indicate each vehicle’s usage or inaccessibility.

As of July 1, 2001, New HEIGHTS will be programmed to exclude vehicles and determine vehicle resource values based on the information that the case worker has entered, in the following manner:

·   Step 1: New HEIGHTS will exclude all vehicles that are excludable based on usage (e.g. farm machinery, income-producing, junk, etc).

·   Step 2: New HEIGHTS will then exclude any vehicle that the case worker has entered as an inaccessible resource (all vehicles with an equity value of $1,500 or less).

·   Step 3: From the remaining vehicles, New HEIGHTS will exclude 1 vehicle per adult assistance group member and 1 vehicle per adult household member disqualified or excluded from the assistance group, selecting the vehicle(s) with the highest equity value first.

·   Step 4: If any vehicles remain after the new Food Stamp vehicle exclusion policy has been implemented, New HEIGHTS will select, based on the highest equity value, 1 licensed vehicle per adult household member and any licensed vehicle a minor drives to work, school, training, or to look for work, and:

-   determine the Fair Market Value in excess of $4650;

-   determine the equity value; and

-   count the lower figure for each car towards the household’s resource limit.

·   Step 5: If any vehicles remain, licensed or unlicensed, New HEIGHTS will count the equity value towards the resource value.

New Utility Standards Policy

Effective July 1, 2001, the "Standard Utility Allowance Details" screen under the "Expense/Shelter/Utility" Function will be updated and restructured:

·   the questions in the "Standard Utility Allowance Responses" box will be arranged according to application, beginning with the question regarding incurred costs for heat;

·   the utility-only question will be revised to include the need for 2 utilities;

·   an electric-only question will be added; and

·   the LIHEAP question will have been expanded to include the text "or do you anticipate applying for LIHEAP within the next 12 months?"

Note: Both the "begin" and "end" dates for this question must be updated at each redetermination. Enter the dates in the following way:

o For individuals who have received LIHEAP assistance within the last year: enter the date the individual began to receive LIHEAP assistance as the "begin" date and the redetermination date as the "end" or "review" date.

o For individuals who anticipate applying for LIHEAP assistance within the next 12 months: enter the current date as the "begin" date and the redetermination date as the "end" or "review" date.

Answering "Yes" to any of the Standard Utility Allowance Response questions will effectively prevent a "Yes" answer to any other Standard Utility Allowance Response question. However, answering "Yes" to the LIHEAP question will override any previous responses to the Standard Utility Allowance Response questions. A "Yes" answer to the LIHEAP question will ensure an automatic application of the full heat and utilities allowance to the household.

Earnings of Children

New HEIGHTS will be programmed as of July 1, 2001 to count the income of dependent minors according to new policy.

Disqualifications

Effective July 1, 2001, New HEIGHTS will have removed the TANF/FS Sanction alert prompting case workers to check for comparable disqualifications in other programs.

IMPLEMENTATION

The revised policy is effective July 1, 2001 for all initial applications and at the next case action or recertification occurring on or after July 1, 2001, whichever is sooner, for all current participants.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special client notification is planned or needed. Clients will be advised of the new policies at initial eligibility interviews, redeterminations, or at the next case action.

TRAINING

No training is planned.

DISPOSITION

This SR may be deleted or destroyed once its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the On-Line Manual.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/PMIndex.htm, effective July 1, 2001.

This SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all hard copy holders of the Food Stamp Manual.

DFA/JBV:s