Update 2006-6: Food Stamps - the County of Santa Clara

Santa Clara County
Social Services Agency
page 1
Date:
09/25/06
References:
ACIN# I-40-06, ACIN I-69-06 &
ACL# 06-31
Cross-References:
None
Clerical:
Yes
Handbook Revision:
Yes
Update 2006-6: Food Stamps
Implementation of Food Stamp Simplification Options
Background
The Food Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2002 permitted states to
choose certain options in order to simplify and improve the Food
Stamp Program. The Food Stamp Simplification Options will take effect
November 1, 2006.
Changes
The following is a summary of the policy changes that will take effect
with the implementation of the Food Stamp Simplification Options.
Child Support
Payments
Legally obligated child support payments to non-household members
will be treated as income exclusions rather than as an income
deduction. As an exclusion, the amount of legally obligated child
support paid is deducted from the gross income before applying the
gross income test and prior to computing the net income, and benefit
calculation.
[Refer to “Child Support [63-502(p)]”, page 13-18] & [Refer to “Child
Support”, page 6-4] for detailed information.
Treatment of
Resources
A household will be allowed to retain cash reserves totaling up to a
maximum of $5,000 in one or more restricted accounts at a financial
institution. These funds are in addition to the existing $2,000/$3,000
resource limits currently allowed.
[Refer to “Personal or Real Property”, page 27-6] for detailed
information.
Treatment of
Income
Certain types of income that are not counted under the CalWORKs
Program will also be excluded for Food Stamp eligibility determination
and benefit computation. These include but are not limited to:
page 2
Update 2006-6: Food Stamps
• Child/Spousal Support Disregard
• Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)
• Earned Income of a Child under 19 years of age and at least half-time
in elementary or secondary school
• Independent Living program (ILP) payments
• Relocation Assistance Benefit
• California Victims of Crimes payments
• Department of Rehabilitation Training Allowances
• Scholarship Awarded to a dependent child
• Contributions from persons or organizations.
[Refer to “Exempt Income [63-502.2]”, page 13-7] for detailed information.
Standard
Utility Allowance (SUA)
The choice of claiming actual utility costs is eliminated.
Eligible households will receive the SUA deduction of $271, if heating and
cooling costs are incurred. SUA will no longer be prorated when the
household lives with and shares utility expense with an excluded/ineligible
household member or when the household lives with and shares utility
expenses with another household. (Both Food Stamp households and
non-Food Stamp households.)
[Refer to “SUA [63-502.363(a)]”, page 15-7] & [Refer to “Summary Chart”,
page 24-1] for detailed information.
Limited Utility Households who do not qualify for the SUA but incur expenses for at least
two separate utilities other than heating and cooling are eligible for the LUA
Allowance
of $75. Allowable utilities for the LUA include telephone, water, sewage, and
(LUA)
garbage. The LUA deduction cannot exceed $75 and is never prorated.
[Refer to “LUA [63-502.363(d)]”, page 15-9] & [Refer to “Summary Chart”,
page 24-1] for detailed information.
Telephone
Utility
Allowance
(TUA)
Households who are not eligible for the SUA or LUA, but incur a telephone
expense are eligible to receive a $20 telephone deduction. The TUA
deduction cannot exceed $20 and is never prorated.
[Refer to “TUA [63-502.363(e)]”, page 15-9] & [Refer to “Summary Chart”,
page 24-1] for detailed information.
Implementation The changes contained in this Update are effective November 1, 2006.
CalWIN
All of the changes contained in this Update are not expected to be fully
automated into the CalWIN system by the implementation date. The
Reference Tables have been updated in CalWIN to exclude the following
incomes:
• Child/Spousal Support Disregard,
• Independent Living Payments (ILP),
Update 2006-6: Food Stamps
page 3
• Educational Awards and Scholarships for Teens,
• Earned Income or Self- Employment Income by a child under 19 years
age and half-time in elementary and school;
And the CalWORKs Restricted Accounts resource.
These changes were made effective 10/1/06 (one month prior to the
implementation date) and therefore, any case with any of these incomes or
resource that has EDBC ran for the month of 10/2006 will reflect the
exclusion of these incomes and resource.
BEnDS
Changes that require code fixes (i.e. LUA, SUA, TUA, child support
payments) will require workarounds until these changes are implemented
into CalWIN. Work around procedures in the form of BEnDS will be
distributed as soon as administratively feasible.
CalWIN
Announcement
CalWIN Announcement 166.2 “Prorating SUA (Revised)” is obsolete with the
implementation of this Update.
Forms
The following forms will be revised to include the changes described in this
Update:
Form Number
Form Name
• FS 22 QR
“Applying for Food Stamp Benefits”
• DFA 285 A2
“Statement of Facts”
• DFA 285 B
“Food Stamp Budget Worksheet”
• DFA 285 D
“Food Stamp Budget Worksheet”
• DFA 377.5
“Food Stamp Household Change Report”
• SAWS 2
“Statement of Facts for Cash Aid, Food Stamps, and Medi-Cal)”
• SAWS 2A QR
“Rights, Responsibilities, and Other Important Information”
• QR 3
“Mid-Quarter Status Report”
• QR 285 B
“Food Stamp Budget Worksheet”
The following correspondences are now obsolete:
Correspondence Number
Correspondence Name:
SC 1665
Food Stamp Proration Worksheet
716
Offer of Choice, Request for Utility Bills
page 4
Update 2006-6: Food Stamps
TEMP 2225
The “Notice to All Food Stamp Recipients” (TEMP 2225) will be posted at all
District Office lobbies, during the months of October and November. [Refer to
the Attached]
TEMP 2227
Since the SAWS 2 and SAWS 2A QR will not be revised by November 1,
2006 due to other program changes, the TEMP 2227 notice must be
included in all Intake application and Continuing recertification packets, until
the SAWS 2 and SAWS 2A are revised to include the new information
regarding SUA, LUA and TUA. [Refer to the Attached]
Chart Book
The Food Stamp chapter of the Chart Book has been revised to reflect the
changes in deductions.
Clerical
Please refer to the “Forms” section of this Update. Office Management
Coordinators (OMCs) must ensure revised forms are in stock, and recycle
obsolete versions as per District Office policy.
KATHERINE BUCKOVETZ, DIRECTOR
Department of Employment and Benefit Services
Contact Person(s): Idelle Villarreal, Program Coordinator, (408) 491-6700.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
NOTICE TO ALL FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS
As of November 1, 2006, the following types of money will no longer count when figuring food stamp
benefits:
• $50 per month of child/spousal support received
• Earned income of a child under 19 years and attending primary or
secondary school at least half-time
• Income and incentives earned by a child 16 years of age or older but
under 19 years old in an Independent Living Program
• Relocation money paid for redevelopment
• Money paid from Victims of Crimes Program
• Earned income and all payments to a child in Job Training Partnership
Act programs
• A contribution from persons or organizations used for a specific need
• Department of Rehabilitation Training Allowances
• Households can now have up to $5,000 in restricted accounts for the
purpose of saving for education, purchasing a home or for the start-up
of a small business
By not counting the above income or savings, households will
get more food stamp benefits.
Two new deductions will now be available: (1) a Limited Utility
Allowance (LUA) of $75 if your household does not incur costs for
heating and cooling, but do have costs for water, sewer or garbage;
and (2) a Telephone Utility Allowance (TUA) of $20 if you only have
a telephone or equal cost used for talking to other people.
Instead of getting actual utility costs as a deduction, a Standard
Utility Allowance (SUA) of $271 per month will be given as a
deduction for utility costs. The change to the SUA from actual utility
costs may cause benefits to decrease by a small amount, depending
on what other housing costs the household has.
You will get a separate notice if your food stamps change for
other reasons.
If you think we made a mistake in figuring your November
food stamps due to the new SUA you may ask for a state
hearing, within 90 days of when you got this letter by
writing to:
Appeals Unit
333 W. Julian St.
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 975-4506 fax
or you may call toll free: 1-800-952-5253. If you are deaf and
use TDD, call 1-800-952-8349. When you ask for a state
hearing, you must tell us why you think we made a mistake.
You can speak for yourself at the hearing or you can have a
friend, attorney, or other person speak for you, but you must
get these people to help you. You may ask for free legal aid at
a legal aid office in your area.
AVISO PARA TODAS LAS PERSONAS QUE RECIBEN ESTAMPILLAS PARA COMIDA
A partir del 1º de noviembre de 2006, ya no se contarán las siguientes clases de dinero cuando se
calculen los beneficios de estampillas para comida:
• $50 al mes recibidos por mantenimiento de niños/esposa(o)
• ingresos ganados de un niño menor de 19 años de edad y asistiendo
por lo menos medio tiempo en un escuela primaria o secundaria
• ingresos e incentivos ganados por un niño de 16 años de edad o
más pero menor de 19 años en un Programa de Vida Independiente
• dinero pagado por mudarse a causa de una reurbanización
• dinero pagado bajo el Programa para las Víctimas de Crímenes
• ingresos ganados y todos los pagos que se den a un niño que esté
participando en programas bajo el Decreto sobre la Participación en
Entrenamiento para Empleo
• una contribución de personas u organizaciones cuando se use para
una necesidad específica
• asignaciones para entrenamiento provenientes del Departamento de
Rehabilitación
• hasta $5,000 en cuentas limitadas que un grupo para fines de
estampillas para comida (grupo) puede tener ahora para propósitos
de ahorrar dinero para la educación, comprar una casa, o empezar un
pequeño negocio:
Al no contar los ingresos ni ahorros mencionados antes, los grupos
recibirán más beneficios de estampillas para comida. Ahora habrá a la
disposición dos nuevas deducciones: (1) la cantidad limitada
permitida para servicios públicos y municipales (LUA) de $75 si su
grupo no tiene gastos de calefacción ni aire acondicionado pero sí
tiene gastos de agua, alcantarillado, o basura; y (2) la cantidad
permitida para el servicio público y municipal telefónico (TUA) de
$20 si usted solamente tiene un teléfono, u otro medio que le cueste
lo mismo, que usa para hablar con otras personas
En vez de recibir una deducción por gastos verdaderos de
servicios públicos y municipales, se dará una deducción de
$271 al mes por dichos gastos como la cantidad normal
permitida para servicios públicos y municipales (SUA). Es
posible que al cambiar de los gastos verdaderos de servicios
públicos y municipales a la SUA se disminuyan un poco los
beneficios de estampillas para comida, dependiendo de qué
otros gastos de vivienda el grupo tenga.
Usted recibirá una notificación por separado si sus
beneficios de estampillas para comida cambian por otras
razones.
Si usted piensa que hemos cometido un error al calcular la
cantidad de sus estampillas para comida para el mes de
noviembre a causa de la nueva SUA, puede pedir una
audiencia con el Estado, antes de que pasen 90 días a
partir de la fecha en que usted recibió esta carta,
escribiendo a:
Appeals Unit
333 W. Julian St.
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 975-4506 fax
o puede llamar gratuitamente al 1-800-952-5253. Si usted
tiene problemas de sordera y usa TDD*, llame al 1-800-9528349. Cuando pide una audiencia con el Estado, tiene que
decirnos por qué usted piensa que hemos cometido un error.
En la audiencia, puede hablar a nombre de sí mismo, o un
amigo, abogado, u otra. persona puede hablar a nombre de
usted, pero usted mismo tiene que pedirles que le ayuden.
Puede pedir ayuda legal gratuita de una oficina de
asesoramiento legal en su área.
TEMP 2225 ENG/SP (7/06)
*aparato de telecomunicaciones para las personas sordas
STATE OF CALIFORNIA - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
IMPORTANT
As of November 1, 2006, the following types of money will no longer count when figuring food
stamp benefits:
New Deductions
Two new deductions will now be available: (1) a Limited Utility Allowance (LUA) of $75 if your household does not incur
costs for heating and cooling, but do have costs for water, sewer or garbage; and (2) a Telephone Utility Allowance
(TUA) of $20 if you only have a telephone or equal cost used for talking to other people.
Instead of getting actual utility costs as a deduction, a Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) of $271 per month will be given
as a deduction for utility costs. The change to the SUA from actual utility costs may cause benefits to decrease by a small
amount, depending on what other housing costs the household has.
You will get a separate notice if your food stamps change for other reasons.
IMPORTANTE
A partir del 1º de noviembre de 2006, ya no se contarán las siguientes clases de dinero
cuando se calculen los beneficios de estampillas para comida:
Nuevas deducciones
Ahora habrá a la disposición dos nuevas deducciones: (1) la cantidad limitada permitida para servicios públicos y
municipales (LUA) de $75 si su grupo no tiene gastos de calefacción ni aire acondicionado pero sí tiene gastos de agua,
alcantarillado, o basura; y (2) la cantidad permitida para el servicio público y municipal telefónico (TUA) de $20 si usted
solamente tiene un
teléfono, u otro medio que le cueste lo mismo, que usa para hablar con otras personas.
En vez de recibir una deducción por gastos verdaderos de servicios públicos y municipales, se dará una deducción de
$271 al mes por dichos gastos como la cantidad normal permitida para servicios públicos y municipales (SUA). Es
posible que al cambiar de los gastos verdaderos de servicios públicos y municipales a la SUA se disminuyan un poco los
beneficios de estampillas para comida, dependiendo de qué otros gastos de vivienda el grupo tenga.
Usted recibirá una notificación por separado si sus beneficios de estampillas para comida cambian por otras
razones.
TEMP 2227 ENG/SP (7/06)