The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding administrative review and state hearing process for debts submitted to the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) for collection. TOP is a system to collect federal debts, including CalFresh overissuances (but not CalWORKs overpayments), from federal payments, including federal income tax refunds.
Counties must send a notice to clients before the debt is submitted to TOP. The client has 60 days from receipt of the TOP pre-offset warning notice to request a county administrative review. If this request is made within 60 days of receipt of the TOP pre-offset warning notice, the debt cannot be submitted to TOP. If the request for administrative review is submitted after the 60-day timeframe, the TOP process continues pending the hearing but the client will be refunded any intercepted funds if the county rules in favor of the client. If the county determines that the debt is not eligible for TOP submission, the debt must be deleted from the TOP system.
Clients are entitled to inspect and copy county record related to the debt prior to the administrative review. The county must mail copies of the records to clients as a if needed as a reasonable accommodation.
The county review must include confirming that the overissuance notice was adequate and language compliant, that a demand letter/notice was sent including a due date, for inadvertent household and administrative errors, ensure that collection is within the three year statute of limitations, verify that the client was given the opportunity to appeal, verify that no responsible party is an active member of a CalFresh household and verify the balance of the claim and any collections received or payment agreements. The county must complete its review and issue a decision within 30 days of receiving the client’s request.
If the client disagrees with the county administrative review decision, the client can request review by the federal Food and Nutrition Service within 30 days of the county administrative review decision. The client is not entitled to a state administrative hearing to challenge the county administrative review decision.
If a client requests a state administrative hearing within 90 days of the date of the overissuance notice of action, the debt is not eligible for TOP and counties must ensure the debt is not submitted to TOP. For hearing requests filed between 90 and 180 days of the overissuance notice of action, the TOP process continues unless the administrative law judge finds jurisdiction. For hearing requests filed after 180 days of the date of the overissuance notice of action, intercepted funds will be refunded if the client wins the hearing.
If the client loses the administrative hearing the client can request rehearing. If the rehearing request is granted within 180 days of the delinquency date, the TOP process must be suspended. If more than 180 days have passed, intercepted funds will be refunded if the client prevails in a rehearing. (ACL 19-22, March 25, 2019.)