SB194 Alabama 2017 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Arthur Orr Senator

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2017

Title

Public assistance, additional requirements for TANF and SNAP benefits, termination of benefits for certain benefits, review of certain EBT card purchases required

Description

This bill would further provide for procedures and limitations for various public assistance programs administered by the Department of Human Resources.

This bill would limit the resource limit standard for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to the federal asset limits, would further provide disqualification periods for violations of SNAP requirements, including a one-year disqualification period for the third instance of noncompliance with any SNAP requirement, would preclude the department from seeking, applying for, accepting, or renewing any waiver of work requirements for SNAP benefits, and would preclude the department from granting categorical eligibility for SNAP benefits.

This bill would require the Department of Human Resources to terminate benefits for any recipient of SNAP benefits upon a determination that the recipient has failed to cooperate with child support enforcement requirements or the Child Support Enforcement Division of the department without good cause, or is delinquent on any court-ordered support payments, including arrears.

This bill would provide a lifetime limit of 36 months for temporary cash payments under the state Family Assistance Program administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) and would provide sanctions for violations of TANF requirements, including termination of benefits for the second instance of noncompliance with any TANF requirement.

This bill would require the Department of Human Resources to utilize best efforts to identify purchases at points of sale outside this state using cash benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) and to establish a benchmark number of out-of-state transactions using TANF benefits that will automatically generate review of the recipient's residency status by the department, as well as review of frequent or large even-dollar purchases by recipients.

This bill would require the Department of Human Resources to monitor all requests for replacement EBT cards, and upon the fourth request, send a notice to the recipient alerting the recipient that the recipient's account would be monitored for potential suspicious activity.

This bill would also provide for the suspension of cash payments under the TANF program when a recipient fails to cooperate with an ongoing fraud investigation and would require the department to maintain sufficient fraud investigative staff.

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Subjects

Public Assistance