Operations Memorandum - Food Stamps
OPS020904
(Revised 10/7/02)

Purpose

1. To release information on the Food Stamp Program (FSP) changes effective October 1, 2002 in the following areas:

• Shelter Deduction

• Income Eligibility Standards

• Thrifty Food Plan Amounts

2. To provide instructions for action that must be completed by the County Assistance Offices (CAOs) to accomplish the above changes.

3. To increase the resource limit for disabled persons.

Background

The United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, has revised the income eligibility standards and the shelter deduction.

There are no changes to the FSP in following areas:

Heating SUA	$333
Non-Heating SUA	$181
Telephone Allowance	$ 26
Dependent Care Under Age Two	$200
Dependent Care Age Two and Over	$175
Homeless Shelter Allowance	$143

Discussion

The following new amounts should be used in computing the October 2002 food stamp benefits.

Shelter Deduction	$367
Standard Income Deduction amount based on household size
1-4 persons 5 persons 6+ persons	$134 $147 $168
Income Eligibility Standards  (see chart)

The revised values will be added to the Client Information System (CIS) Reference Table. Most households participating in the FSP as of the close of business on September 13, 2002 will have their food stamp allotments adjusted automatically through the mass change process. This change will be reflected in the October 2002 benefit issuance. CIS will automatically calculate the food stamp benefits for all openings after September 13, 2002 using the current figures for September and the new figures for October.

The Food Stamp Handbook (FSH) revisions implementing these changes will be issued in the near future.

Client Notice

The system change will generate the appropriate Confirming Notice to each household that will have an increase in its benefits.

Case Alerts

The CAO worker will have approximately six work days after the mass change for the first digit cases to take appropriate action and clear the alerts listed below, before the deadline for the October benefits.

Note:

Cases not properly cleared on a timely basis could result in quality control errors.

Note:

Transitional Benefits Alternative (TBA) budgets will not be included in the automated mass grant change. Instead, alert 206 will be posted to indicate that TBA cases need to be reviewed by the CAO.

1. Cases with Food Stamp Budgets Deleted from TSA - #92
   
   Cases containing food stamp budgets that are in the TSA at the time of the mass change will be deleted from TSA. The active food stamp budgets of these cases, as they exist in BenGen, will be automatically updated during the mass change to reflect the new food stamp values. An alert will automatically be set to indicate that these cases were deleted from TSA. The deleted cases will be identified by Case Alert No. 92, BUAC, TSA Activity Deleted by Batch.

   CAOs must reprocess all budgets (cash, medical and food stamps) if the cases were deleted from the TSA. Therefore, it is important for CAOs to process cases containing a food stamp budget and remove them from TSA before the mass change is implemented on the weekend of September 14/15, 2002. CAOs should review Case Alert No. 61, TSA, Case Incomplete in TSA, to identify potentially affected cases and process these cases immediately.

2. Food Stamp Budgets with an Active Override Record - #86
   
   During the food stamp mass change process, the system will check all food stamp budgets to determine if an active override record exists. If an override exists, a case alert will be automatically set for the affected food stamp budget. The mass change process will automatically recalculate the net income for the override budget but will not change the existing override benefit amount. Executive Directors -4-

   Caseload management will create Case Alert No. 86, MCEX, Override Exists, Review Due to Mass Change, for each override budget. Alert No. 86 will be created after the mass change runs. It will have an immediate due date and must be worker-cleared. The alert can be accessed from either MCEX or ASAP alert type.

   CAOs are to review identified records to determine the appropriateness of the override benefit amount.

3. Food Stamp Budgets with Decreased Benefits - #101
   
   In a few budgets, there may be a decrease in the food stamp benefits when the mass change is run. These budgets will not be processed by the mass change. They will be identified by Alert No. 101, type MCEX. The CAOs are to review these records and take appropriate action.

4. Food Stamp Budgets that Fail Mass Change - #30
   
   Budgets that are not processed for reasons under Alert Nos. 86, 92, or 101 will be posted to an Alert No. 30, type MCEX. These include budgets that fail the gross or net income tests and budgets with a person count of zero on CQFBNF. CAOs are to review these records and take appropriate action.

5. Food Stamp TBA Budgets - #206
   
   This is a system-created, worker-cleared alert that will be posted for all food stamp budgets that are enrolled in TBA when the Mass Grant batch process is run. These budgets will not be processed by the mass change. They will be identified by Alert No. 206, type BUAC, Review TBA FS ignored by SPT/Mass Grant/COLA Batch process. Ensure any changes are processed correctly.

   For FS budgets that receive this alert as part of the mass grant change, CAOs must use CAFOOD to calculate what the new benefit amount would be with the new values applied. If CAFOOD indicates benefits should increase, run EDBC for the case to increase the allotment. If CAFOOD indicates that the FS allotment would decrease for the TBA household, do not run EDBC and make no changes to the case in CIS. In either case, after the FS amount has been determined and the appropriate action decided upon, the worker must clear the alert. Narrate in the record the results of the CAFOOD calculations and the actions taken.

Reminder:

Food stamp budgets that were in suspension before the mass grant change and reinstated after the change must be checked to verify that the September 2002 benefits were issued using the old food stamp values.

MAPPER File

A MAPPER file, UTIL 900, Department 45, will be available for the CAOs to identify budgets with shared shelter/utility cost (budgets with NM 41, NM 56, and NM 57 individuals). A daily status will be issued when the MAPPER file is available.

If you encounter problems or situations that seem to require special handling, please contact the CIS Hotline.

Resource Limits

The Food Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2002, Public Law 107-171, signed into law by President Bush on May 13, 2002, mandates an increase in the resource limit for households with a disabled member from $2,000 to $3,000.

Reminder:

Worker must enter a "Y" under dis/inc column on CAINDA screen for the household with a disabled member to receive the $3,000 limit.

Next Steps

1. Implement these changes effective October 1, 2002.

2. Review case alerts and take appropriate action.

3. This Operations Memorandum will be obsolete after receiving the FSH revisions.

Last modified: Wednesday, October 01, 2003