Heads up for those working with individuals with disabilities in (or heading to) the workplace. This ACL implements AB 925 (which was effective January 1st, 2003!) which allows IHSS, PCSP, and the new IHSS Independence Plus Waiver (IPW) recipients to transfer service hours already authorized for use in the recipient’s home to a workplace in order to support employment. No additional hours, no new assessment. Ya gotta get county approval before doing the transfer. AB 925 coverage does not supplant employer ADA obligations. The services must be “necessary and relevant” to work. You can also transfer services needed to “obtain” work, such as job interviews or complying with pre-employment activities (including employer-offered or required training). [Download]
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
ACIN I-73-04 – Food Stamps Q&As (October 13, 2004)
Put your sanction foot in, take your grant amount out … Answers to those pesky questions about the relation between CalWORKs and Food Stamps sanctions, budgeting, and other Q & A’s, for those who get into this kind of thing. Helpful info on homeless shelter deductions and loan/vendor pay issues. (Did you know that verification of homeless housing costs is not required, just proof of a “reasonable expectation” of a housing expense? That partial rent paid to the landlord is a non-income vendor pay, but the shelter deduction is based on the rent actually paid by the FS recipient?) [Download]
ACIN I-72-04 – Transitional Food Stamp Q&As (October 12, 2004)
What ACIN I-73-04 does for regular FS, this one does for the transitional Food Stamps (TFS) program … Interesting answers, like granting TFS for someone erroneously denied CalWORKs, then found eligible for one pro-rated month (get a full TFS grant); how to handle new household members coming in during the TFS period (no change unless household reapplies); county TFS responsibility for inter-county move cases (the county that last had the CW case), what to do with unreported income during TFS (trick question: there is no income reporting during TFS!), etc. [Download]
ACL 04-34 – CalWORKs COLA and MAP and MBSAC Increases (August 31, 2004)
They’re all up, effective July 2004. [Download]
ACL 04-33 – Fry Implementation (August 27, 2004)
Per court order, CDSS must modify the rule for determining CalWORKs cash aid and eligibility for otherwise eligible 18-year-olds (and their parent/caretaker relatives) who are attending school full-time and are not expected to graduate by age 19 from high school or vocational school because of their disability. Counties are to immediately cease denying, discontinuing or reducing the cash aid for all otherwise eligible 18-year-olds (and their parent/caretaker relatives) who are attending school full-time and are not expected to graduate by age 19. Counties must also rescind the discontinuance of aid or grant reduction for an otherwise eligible 18-year-old (and their parent/caretaker relative) who is attending school full-time and is not reasonably expected to graduate from high school or vocational school by age 19, regardless of the reason between July 7, 2004, (the date of judgment entry) and the date the CWD implements this change, and to issue retroactive payments back to July 7, 2004. Stand by for an ACL in November defining “disability.” [Download]
IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-82
In this ruling, the IRS confirms, citing the legislative history of the low-income tax credit statute (I.R.C. Section 42), that evictions or terminations of tenancy from tax credit developments must be based on good cause. The ruling also provides that with respect to certifying or re-certifying eligibility to reside in a low-income tax credit unit, a tenant may submit a sworn self-certification that she or he is not receiving child support. The ruling also contains a discussion of the “available unit rule” as it relates to tenants whose income increases to above 140 percent of the tax credit income limitation. [Download]