HB576 Alabama 2014 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Jim Patterson

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2014

Title

Public assistance, fraud in obtaining, crime established, penalties, theft of services, knowledge requirement deleted, Sec. 40-18-100 am'd.

Summary

HB576 would criminalize fraud to obtain public assistance, provide penalties and forfeiture for fraud, and allow intercepting state tax refunds to recover housing-debt, with agency fraud screening and record-keeping requirements.

What This Bill Does

It makes knowingly fraudulent acts to obtain public assistance illegal, including false statements, misrepresentations, failure to disclose changes in circumstances, aiding others, and misuse of eligibility cards. It also allows the forfeiture of funds, proceeds, or property obtained through fraud. It authorizes the Department of Revenue to intercept state income tax refunds to collect debts owed to housing authorities and requires public-assistance agencies to screen for fraud and maintain admissible records related to investigations. The act would update debt-collection definitions and clarifies the local-expenditure provisions related to new crimes.

Who It Affects

• Public assistance recipients and any individuals or businesses that commit or attempt fraud to obtain benefits, who could face criminal penalties, potential forfeiture of fraud proceeds, and possible tax-refund intercepts.
• State and local agencies that administer or handle public assistance (DHR, Medicaid Agency, Housing Finance Authority, housing authorities) and debt-collection entities, which would implement fraud screening, pursue debt collections, process forfeitures, and handle related records and intercepts.

Key Provisions

• Prohibits knowingly fraud in obtaining public assistance, including false statements, misrepresentation, impersonation, failure to disclose changes, and aiding others.
• Bans misuse or alteration of food assistance IDs, authorization cards, and re-encoding of card data to access benefits.
• Criminalizes filing false claims, overbilling, or receiving unauthorized payments or items under any public assistance program.
• Penalties: Class C felony for aggregate fraud value of $200 or more; Class A misdemeanor for less than $200; three or more violations create a rebuttable presumption of knowing violation.
• Allows civil forfeiture of funds, proceeds, or property connected to fraud, with specified civil-Forfeiture procedures.
• Authorizes interception of state income tax refunds by the Department of Revenue to repay debts owed to housing authorities.
• Requires agencies to create fraud-prone case profiles and conduct preeligibility fraud screening, potentially using the Income and Eligibility Verification System.
• Service providers who solicit or receive payments from public-assistance recipients must report the payment to DHR within 10 days; failure is a Class A misdemeanor.
• Admissibility of certified agency records in fraud investigations and defined evidence standards for agency records and transactions.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Crimes and Offenses