Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 17, September 10, 2024
A.
Regardless of what type of application system is used, the local office must
provide a means for applicants to immediately begin the application process.
The household shall be advised it may file an incomplete application form if
the form contains a name, address, and is signed by a responsible household
member or the household's authorized representative. Signatures include
handwritten signatures, electronic signature techniques, recorded telephonic
signatures, or documented gestured signatures. A valid handwritten signature
includes a designation of an X. Local offices shall accept applications for
SNAP during normal business hours and shall not be restricted to a certain day
or time of day. The household shall be advised that it need not be interviewed
before filing an application. The local office shall inform applicants that
receiving SNAP will have no bearing on any other program's time limits that may
apply to the household.
B. Persons
who request information for SNAP must be advised of expedited service
provisions and encouraged to apply so that eligibility processing can begin.
County local offices shall encourage the filing of an application form on the
same day the household or its representative contacts the local office in
person or by telephone and expresses interest in obtaining SNAP, or indicates
the household is without food or the means to obtain food.
C. Local offices shall make application forms
readily accessible to applicant households, as well as to groups and
organizations, and shall also provide an application form to anyone who
requests the form. If a household contacting the local office by telephone does
not wish to come to the appropriate office to file the application that same
day and instead prefers receiving an application through the mail, the local
office shall mail an application form to the household on the same day the
telephone request is received. An application shall also be mailed on the same
day a written request for SNAP is received.
Application forms shall be made available in Spanish, or
other appropriate languages for use in those counties where it has been
determined in conjunction with the State local office that there are a
significant number of households without an adult member fluent in
English.
D. The state or
local office shall annotate the application form by recording the date the form
was received. All valid applications which are paper, transmitted by fax or
other electronic transmissions, are acceptable. When an application is
submitted through such means outside of business hours, the application filing
date shall be recorded as the next business day.
E. Households must file applications by
submitting the forms in person, through an authorized representative, by fax or
other electronic transmission, by mail, or by completing an online electronic
application. The local office must inform the applicant that they can obtain a
copy of their application and provide the household with a copy of their
completed application upon the request of the client. A copy of a completed
application can be a copy of the information provided by the client that was
used or will be used to determine a household's eligibility and benefit
allotment. At the option of the household, this may be provided in an
electronic format.
F. Applications
are valid for a period of sixty (60) calendar days or until eligibility has
been determined, whichever is sooner. Once eligibility has been determined,
households must submit a new application if the household:
1. Failed to attend an interview in the first
thirty (30) days of the application, or
2. Was determined ineligible due to household
circumstances.
G. Local
offices shall record in the automated system racial and ethnic data provided by
an applicant household. The purpose of obtaining this information is not to
affect the eligibility or the level of benefits, but rather to ensure that SNAP
benefits are distributed without regard to race, color, or national origin. In
those instances when the information is not provided voluntarily by the
household on the application form, the local office shall use alternative means
of collecting the ethnic and racial data on households, such as by observation
during the interview. Under no circumstance should an eligibility technician
challenge or change a self-declaration made by a household member.
4.202.1
Public Assistance (PA)
Applications and Processing
A.
Households applying for PA shall be notified of their right to apply for SNAP
at the same time and shall be allowed to apply for SNAP at the same time they
apply for PA benefits.
B. The local
office shall provide benefits using the original application and any other
pertinent information occurring after that application for any household filing
a joint application for SNAP and PA benefits. The original application and
relevant subsequent information shall also be used for households that are
categorically eligible when they are determined eligible to receive PA after
being denied for SNAP. The local office shall not re-interview the household
but shall use mail or telephone contact to obtain information about any
changes.
C. Households whose PA
applications are denied shall not be required to file a new SNAP application.
The household shall have its SNAP eligibility determined or continued based on
the applications filed jointly for PA and SNAP purposes and any other
documented information obtained after the application that may have been used
in the PA determination.
4.202.2
Application Filing by
Ineligible Individuals
The ineligibility of certain individuals for SNAP benefits
will not prohibit the remaining household members from applying for and
receiving SNAP. Ineligible individuals living in an applicant household shall
not be considered eligible household members for SNAP purposes; however, the
ineligible individual's income and resources are considered in the household's
eligibility determination and benefit allotment.
When the eligible members of a household are all
unemancipated minors and the only adult is an ineligible individual, the
ineligible individual may apply on behalf of the eligible minors without being
considered as having applied for themself. However, if there is any other
eligible adult in the household, even though they would not normally be
considered the head of household, that eligible person should file an
application as the head of household.
4.202.3
SSI Households Submitting SNAP
Applications to the Social Security Administration (SSA)
A. Whenever a member of a household
consisting only of SSI clients transacts business at an SSA office, the member
has a right to apply for SNAP at the SSA office or the local office. The SSA
office is not required to accept applications for SSI clients who are not
members in a household consisting entirely of SSI clients unless a county has
out stationed an eligibility technician at the SSA office. The SSA office will
refer non-SSI households to the correct local office. An SSI client shall be
informed at the SSA office of the availability of SNAP benefits and the
availability of the SNAP application at the SSA office. The SSA office shall
also complete joint SSI and SNAP applications for residents of public
institutions who apply for SSI prior to their release from the institutions.
The clients shall be permitted to apply for SNAP while they apply for
SSI.
B. The SSA office will accept
and complete SNAP applications from SSI households and forward them, within one
working day after receipt of a signed application, to the appropriate local
office. The SSA will use the SNAP application. The application will be
transmitted to the local office with documentation of verification obtained.
When an SSA office sends a SNAP application and supporting documentation to an
incorrect local office, the application and documentation shall be sent to the
correct office within one working day.
C. The SSA office is required to prescreen
all SNAP applications for entitlement to expedited service and shall mark
"expedited processing" on the first page of all applications of households that
appear to be entitled to such processing. The SSA will inform households which
appear to meet the criteria for expedited service that benefits may be issued a
few days sooner if the household applies directly at the local office. The
household may take the application from the SSA office to a local office for
screening, interviewing, and processing of the application. Each local office
shall furnish the SSA office(s) serving its geographical area with a street map
and/or map defining its boundaries together with the addresses of the local
offices in the project area.
D. The
local office shall prescreen all applications received from the SSA office for
entitlement to expedited service on the day the application is received at the
correct local office. All households entitled to expedited service shall be
certified in accordance with Sections 4.205.1 and 4.205.11, except that the
expedited processing time standard shall begin on the date the application is
received at a local office in the correct county. To prevent duplication, the
local office shall develop and implement a method to determine if members of
SSI households whose applications are forwarded by the SSA office are currently
participating in SNAP.
4.202.31
SSI Telephone Applications and Recertifications Completed by the
SSA
A. If an SSA office takes an SSI
application or recertification on the telephone from a household consisting
only of SSI clients, a SNAP application shall also be completed during the
telephone interview and shall be mailed by the SSA office to the client for
signature for return to the SSA office or to the local office. The SSA office
shall then forward any SNAP applications it receives to the local office. The
local office shall not require the household to be interviewed again. The local
office may contact the household further to obtain additional information for
the eligibility determination.
B.
The SSA office shall mail information of the client's right to file a SNAP
application at the SSA office if all members or their household are SSI
clients, or at their local office, and their right to an interview to be
performed by the local office.
C.
For households consisting entirely of SSI clients who apply for SNAP
certification at an SSA office, the application shall be considered filed for
normal processing purposes when the application is received by the
SSA.
4.202.32
SSI
and SNAP Joint Processing
A. In those
instances where an application has been completed at the SSA office, the local
office shall ensure that information required by Section 4.502 is verified
prior to certification for households initially applying, and households
entitled to expedited certification services shall be processed in accordance
with Sections 4.205.1 and 4.205.11. In those cases where the SSI household
submits its SNAP application to the local office rather than through the SSA
office, all verification, including that pertaining to SSA program benefits,
shall be provided by the household, by State Data Exchange (SDX) or Beneficiary
Data Exchange (BENDEX), or obtained by the local office rather than being
provided by the SSA.
For those cases in which SSI and SNAP are being processed
simultaneously, the local office shall question the household and/or use SDX
listings to obtain information on SSI determinations. If the information cannot
be obtained through SDX listings and/or questioning the households, a written
inquiry may be made to the SSA office to obtain information of the status of
SSI determinations. Within ten (10) calendar days of learning of the
determination of the SSI application, the local office shall act in accordance
with Section 4.604.
B. The
expedited processing time standard for clients who filed prior to the release
from a public institution will begin on the date that the individual is
released from the public institution. The SSA shall notify the local office of
the date of release of the client from the institution. Benefits shall be
restored back to the date of a client's release from a public institution if,
while in the institution, the client jointly applied for SSI and SNAP, but the
local office was not notified on a timely basis of the client's
release.
4.202.33
Out Stationing Eligibility Technicians in SSA Offices
If the local office, with the approval of the State
Department, chooses to outstation eligibility technicians at SSA offices, with
SSA's concurrence, the following actions shall be completed:
A. SSA will provide adequate space for SNAP
eligibility technician in SSA offices;
B. The local office shall have at least one
out stationed technician on duty at all time periods during which households
will be referred for SNAP application processing. In most cases, this would
require the availability of an out stationed technician throughout normal SSA
business hours;
C. The following
households shall be entitled to file SNAP applications with, and be interviewed
by, an out stationed eligibility technician:
1. Households containing an SSI
client.
2. Households which do not
have an SSI client but which contain an applicant for or recipient of benefits
under Title II of the Social Security Act, if the county and the SSA have an
agreement to allow the processing of such households at SSA
offices.
D. Households
shall be interviewed for SNAP on the day of application unless there is
insufficient time to conduct an interview. The county shall arrange for the out
stationed technician to interview clients as soon as possible;
E. The out stationed eligibility
technician(s) shall not refuse to provide service to a client because they do
not reside in the county or project area in which the SSA office is located, if
they reside within the jurisdiction served by the SSA office and the State. The
county is not required to process the applications of persons who are not
residing within the SSA office's jurisdiction but who do reside within the
county's jurisdiction, other than to forward the forms to the correct local
offices;
F. The county may permit
the eligibility technician out stationed at the SSA office to determine the
eligibility of households, or may require that completed applications be
forwarded elsewhere for the eligibility determination;
G. Applications from households entitled to
joint processing through an out stationed eligibility technician shall be
considered filed on the date they are submitted to that technician. Both the
normal and expedited service time standards shall begin on that date;
and,
H. Households not entitled to
joint processing shall be entitled to obtain and submit applications at the SSA
office. The out stationed eligibility technician need not process these
applications except to forward them to correct local office where they shall be
considered filed upon receipt. Both the normal and expedited service time
standards shall begin on that date.
