When the Lomeli settlement went into effect, DSS issued a regulation, but did not remove the old provisions that were in a different section. Just to clarify, this letter explains that admin error overissuances are limited to a 5% collection rate. [Download]
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
CalFresh / SNAP
ACL 13-35: Heat And Eat Program (4/24/13)
A tweak to the “Heat and Eat” program described in ACL 12-61, to remedy the fact that some homeless households with income were losing benefits. Since the intent of Heat and Eat is to increase benefits, CWDs are instructed to determine which deduction should be used in the CalFresh budget calculation for the homeless household so as to not adversely affect the household’s benefits. If the homeless shelter deduction, vs. the SUA, is more advantageous, that would be used. Homeless households adversely impacted by use of the SUA rather than the homeless shelter deduction should have their benefits recalculated using the correct deduction retroactively to January 1, 2013. These households get the LIHEAP benefit either way. [Download]
ACL 13-32: Modified Categorical Eligibility/Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility And Elderly/Disabled CalFresh Households (4/24/13)
An important add-on to ACL 12-62, explaining that if a household with seniors/people classified as disabled are above 200% FPL (the financial cut off with the feds for Categorical Eligibility), the county must still process the application to determine if the household is eligible. Why? Because these households have no gross income limit (as well as having no excess shelter cap and being eligible for out of pocket medical expenses), and thus could be eligible even if above 200% FPL. The county would need to determine if they are below the $3k resource limit. Which is one of the only times (other than when looking at Expedited eligibility) that resources matter for CalFresh. [Download]
ACL 13- 28: CalWORKs And CalFresh Programs: Implementation Of The Annual Reporting/Child Only (AR/CO) System Q&A (4/10/13)
So, what do you do when as an “AR/CO reporter? Here are the answers! [Download]
ACL 13-26: CalWORKs) And CalFresh Programs: New And Revised Forms And Notices Of Action (NOAs) For The Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR) System (4/8/13)
New system, new forms. Included here are the 2nd set of SAR forms. The SAWS 2, CW 8 and 8A can all be used as soon as administratively possible. The rest (and all SAR forms) must be up and running by 10/1/13, when SAR is in place statewide. And for those who believe in statewideness, a reminder that changes to required forms, other than adding the county name, logo and contact information must be approved by CDSS prior using any modified form. [Download]
ACL 13-17: Updated Information For Semi-Annual Reporting Implementation For CalFRESH (3/22/13)
Gee, that 107 page Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR) ACL was so darn thorough! Unfortunately, it was also based on some waiver requests to the USDA. This letter goes over which were accepted, which were denied (and the impact) and which, one year later, are still pending. An important denial is to disregard any mid-period voluntary reports that would decrease benefits. The FNS is requiring California to act on ANY change reported mid-period if it is “verified upon receipt” (VUR) unless the report is for another program (like CalWORKs) and that program doesn’t trigger an action in response to the report. CDSS will issue more instructions on VUR later. FNS also denied averaging income over the 6 month period, and allows only using reaonably anticipated income and changes from voluntary reports. Requiring reporting mid-period changes in address is still pending. [Download]