SR 97-19 Dated 06/97

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

SR 97-9, effective March 31, 1997, released the New Hampshire Employment Program (NHEP) and manual page changes to Family Assistance Manual Chapters 200 and 300. At that time, it was not possible to release revised Chapter 800, since it required major revisions and reformatting. This SR releases revised Family Assistance Manual (FAM) Chapter 800 and new Part 808, New Hampshire Employment Program.

This SR also incorporates NHEP progressive sanctions, effective July 1, 1997, in FAM Chapter 800. NHEP related sanctions are being released by SR 97-20, Release of Progressive Sanctions in NHEP.... Although this policy has a July 1, 1997, effective date, it is being incorporated into the manual pages dated June 1997 in order release the entire Chapter 800 as one complete document.

Form 221, The New Hampshire Employment Program, has been revised include information on progressive sanctions, which are being released by SR 97-20. This form also adds the Lebanon NHES Office to the list of NHEP Team Offices.

Other clarifications and technical corrections have been also added to FAM pages to reflect food stamp policy as a result of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).

POLICY

This SR releases no new policy for the New Hampshire Employment Program or the Food Stamp Program. It incorporates existing SR’s.

MANUAL PAGE CHANGES

The major manual page changes are summarized in the heading that follows.

Changes as a Result of Implementation of NHEP

Chapter 800 has been reformatted in its entirety, and several Parts and Sections pertaining to the now obsoleted JOBS program have been deleted. New Part 808, New Hampshire Employment Program, has been added. Part and Section numbers throughout the Table of Contents and the text have been renumbered accordingly.

As part of the reformatting, dual columns have been eliminated in instances in which the policy pertains only to food stamps or NHEP. For example, the previous manual page for Part 817, Determining the Head of Household, was a dual column page with a narrow AFDC column and a wide Food Stamp column. This page is now a one column page with food stamp text only.

In addition to reformatting, the headers on each page of Chapter 800 now reference NHEP and/or food stamps. References to AFDC have been deleted. The footers have also been changed to reference the New Hampshire Division of Transitional Assistance.

Changes as a Result of SR 97-20, Release of Progressive Sanctions in NHEP...

NHEP progressive sanctions are included in Family Assistance Part 808, Section 808.35. This section also addresses uniform sanctions for dependent children and how to determine when a sanction ends.

Food Stamp Changes as a Result of PRWORA

 The references to head of household in Chapter 800 as they pertain to work-related disqualifications have been deleted, since all noncompliant individuals are treated the same.

 Chapter 800 has been revised to reflect the mandatory minimum one, three and six month disqualification periods for individuals who fail or refuse to comply with food stamp work or training requirements.

 This Chapter also indicates that individuals disqualified for food stamp work or training noncompliance remain disqualified until they become exempt, or the latest date in which one of the following occurs:

- the individual complies, or

- the 1, 3 or 6 month disqualification period ends.

 Chapter 800 has also been revised to indicate that there is no conciliation process required in the Food Stamp program for mandatory participants who do not comply with work requirements.

FORMS REVISIONS

Form 221, The New Hampshire Employment Program, has been revised as noted below.

 The section "What if I Don't Have A Good Cause For Not Meeting NHEP Requirements?" was revised to address the progressive sanction policy described in SR 97-20, which is effective July 1, 1997.

 The section "Are There Good Cause Reasons for Quitting or Refusing a Job?" has been shortened to allow for the additional space required to describe the progressive sanction policy. This section now provides some, but not all of the voluntary quit good cause reasons, and advises individuals to refer to Form 220, Notice of Failure to Meet Work Requirements, for more information on claiming good cause.

 The Lebanon NHES Office has been added to the list of NHEP Team Offices.

District Offices and NHEP teams may continue to use the previous version, dated 3/97 and released under SR 97-9, until current stocks are depleted. Therefore, no Certificate of Destruction is included in this SR.

As soon as the revised Form 221 from has been printed, an initial supply will be sent to District Offices and NHEP team locations.

IMPLEMENTATION

NHEP progressive sanctions have a July 1, 1997 effective date. The manual pages are effective June 30, 1997.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

There is no client notification associated with this SR.

TRAINING

No training is planned.

UPCOMING MANUAL PAGE CHANGES

Changes to the Key Word Index will be released in a separate SR.

POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed after its contents have been noted and its posting instructions carried out.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR only will be distributed according to the narrative distribution list for the FAM. This SR and pages will be distributed to all holders of the FAM.

OES/SJC:s