SR 01-18 Dated 03/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

?Á*This SR releases changes to simplify policy governing the length of Food Stamp Program certification periods for:

·   All Food Stamp households in which one or more members receives earned income (See Exception below under POLICY);

·   Adult category cash or medical assistance households, with or without earned income, that have a food stamp assistance group size that is different from the cash or medical assistance group size;

·   QMB, SLMB, SLMB135, and QDWI households, with food stamps, receiving certain types of income; and

·   All TANF or TANF-related medical assistance cases, with food stamps.

Currently, these food stamp households may be certified for no more than 4 months. Under the revised policy, food stamp households applying or recertifying on or after the effective date of this SR and meeting any of the criteria detailed in the POLICY section below may be certified for up to 6 months. District Offices always have the option to certify such cases for less than the maximum period if case circumstances so indicate.

Increasing the length of certification periods for earned income cases adds needed flexibility to the Food Stamp Program for both clients and staff. This change benefits working food stamp recipients by reducing the number of times they are required to visit the District Office for recertification, and concomitantly means fewer recertification appointments that must be scheduled by District Offices, freeing up time for other duties.

Chapters 100 of the Family Assistance (FAM) and Food Stamp Manuals (FSM) have been revised accordingly.

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

Part 161 REDETERMINATION / RECERTIFICATION

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

Section 133.05 Households With Unstable Circumstances

Section 133.09 Certification Periods

Unless otherwise indicated by case circumstances, allow a food stamp certification period of up to 6 months for cases meeting any of the following criteria:

·   one or more members of the food stamp assistance group receives earned income;

Exception: ABAWD cases, with or without earned income, must continue to have the length of the certification period adjusted to accommodate any full months of receipt of benefits during the last 36 months in which the ABAWD participated as a non-exempt individual. For example, if an ABAWD has previously received 2 full months of benefits as a non-exempt individual, that person’s certification period would be set at 1 month. Under no circumstances should the certification period for an assistance group containing an ABAWD member be set to longer than the current 4 months as permitted by policy.

·   adult category cash or medical assistance cases, including In and Out assistance groups, with food stamps, that have a food stamp assistance group size different from the cash or medical assistance group size;

·   QMB, SLMB, SLMB135, or QDWI cases, with food stamps, in which one or more members of the food stamp assistance group receives either earned income or unemployment compensation; and

·   NHEP or FAP financial assistance or related medical assistance cases, including Medical Coverage for Pregnant Women, Healthy Kids Gold (HKG)-185, HKG-300, or Healthy Kids-Silver, with food stamps.

Until changes to New HEIGHTS can be accomplished, District Offices must manually set the certification periods for these cases by overriding the default certification period of 4 months. District Offices will be advised when these changes have been completed. District Offices may also contact the Help Desk for assistance with individual cases.

IMPLEMENTATION

The policy change released by this SR is effective for all new applications and at recertification for current recipients processed on or after the effective date.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special notification is planned. Applicants and recipients will be notified of the length of the certification period at application or recertification.

TRAINING

No special training is planned or needed due to the procedural nature of this SR.

DISPOSITION

This SR may be deleted or destroyed once its contents have been noted and the revised manual topic released by this SR have been posted to the On-Line Food Stamp 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 April 2, 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/RQY:s