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ACL 08-37: 2008 Farm Bill: Mandatory Changes Effective October 1, 2008 (8/1/08)

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Figuring out Food Stamps will now be a snap, with the renaming of the program….“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” or SNAP is the new national food program. Contingent on a state budget, the following changes impacting recipients will be effective 10/1/08: 1) the standard deduction will be raised to $144 and indexed it to inflation starting in FFY 2010; 2) removes the cap on dependent care expenses; 3) adjusts the asset limit to inflation (don’t get your hopes up, the trigger is not expected to be reached until 10/2012!); 4) excludes all tax-preferred education accounts and retirement accounts (e.g., IRAs), from countable resources; 5) increases the minimum benefits amount, indexed to inflation, from the current $10; 6) increases the time to preserve benefits in inactive EBT accounts.

Other changes are pending federal implementing regulations. [Download]

ACWDL 08-30: Implementation of aid code 06 for the Out-of-State Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance and aid code 46 for the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (7/14/2008)

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The federal government contributes to states’ costs of providing subsidies and Medicaid for adopted children or children in foster care who meet certain eligibility criteria. The Compacts provide for uniformity and consistency of policy and procedures when a child with special needs is adopted or fostered by a family in another state or the adoptive or foster family moves to another state. When a child enters California through ICAMA or ICPC, the sending state pays the cash subsidy, but the children receive Medi-Cal through California. In May 2001, California became a member of the ICAMA, but counties have been using existing aid codes for these children which does not allow for tracking of these cases.  DHCS is implementing the two new aid codes for appropriate tracking of out-of-state Medi-Cal for these children. [Download]

ACWDL o8-32: Notice of Action requirements (7/30/2008)

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A NOA workgroup has been meeting since 2007 to resolve NOA issues. This ACWDL implements two interim measures recommended by the NOA workgroup. Another ACWDL is predicted to follow in Fall 2008 with the long-term improvement of a simplified NOA format. The two interim measures in this ACWDL are 1) to eliminate multiple or conflicting NOAs and 2) to ensure that individuals have access to bilingual/interpretive services. The letter lays out steps for the counties to take to realize the two interim measures. [Download]

ACWDL 08-29: Final federal rule changes to the citizenship/ identity requirements for Medi-Cal eligibility (7/9/2008)

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This all county letter updates information and instructions from ACWDL 07-12 with new federal DRA policy clarifications and changes. A few of the major changes/ clarifications are:

    • Former Medicare and SSI beneficiaries are not exempt from having to provide identification and citizenship verification.
    • While there are several different tiers of documents, counties must accept the evidence provided as the best available evidence including affidavits.
    • SAVE verification is acceptable evidence of citizenship for naturalized citizens.
    • Verification that an adopted child has met the requirements for establishing citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act is acceptable evidence of citizenship.
    • Naturalized Citizens may use affidavits of citizenship which do not need to be notarized.

There are many other changes/ clarifications in the letter detailing what documentation can be used to prove citizenship and identification. There are several specific documents now available as proof for children under 16. The letter includes amended notices, forms, and detailed descriptions of acceptable DRA documents. [Download]