ParaRegs-Adult-Services-Interim-Assistance

 

 

Code

Effective

ParaReg Text

820-1

 

 

Interim assistance is defined as assistance from state or county funds furnished to meet basic needs during the period for which such individual was eligible for SSI/SSP benefits, beginning with the month of application and ending with the receipt of the initial payment. (§46-337.24)

820-2

 

 

Federal regulations define interim assistance as the assistance the state gives a GA recipient (including payments to providers of goods and services on behalf of the recipient) to meet basic needs, starting with the month there is an application for SSI and eligibility for those benefits, and ending with and including the month SSI benefits begin. Interim assistance does not include assistance the state gives to or for any other person, nor does it include assistance payments financed wholly or partly with federal funds. (20 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), §416.1902) This CFR section is based on federal law. The Federal Government has interpreted federal law to preclude the counties from collecting funds from the GA recipient which exceed the prorated SSI payment (when eligibility is initially established after the first of the month) in that same month. (42 United States Code §1383(g)(3))

820-3

 

 

Upon receipt of an initial SSI/SSP payment, the county shall deduct the amount of the interim assistance and send the remainder to the recipient or his/her representative payee as quickly as possible but in any event no later than ten working days from receipt of the initial payment. If the county has not forwarded the remittance to the recipient or the representative/payee by the tenth working day from the date of receipt, the county shall send the entire initial payment. When the county has forwarded the remittance within ten working days, mail delays or calculation errors shall not entitle the recipient to the entire initial payment. (§46-337.44)

820-3A

ADDED 12/2007

 

Public Law 109-171, The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, was enacted by the federal government on February 1, 2006. As a result of this new public law, Interim Assistance Reimbursement (IAR) payments are now more likely to be issued under Social Security Administration (SSA)’s payment pending procedure. Under this payment procedure, the retroactive SSI/SSP payment is not forwarded to the IA agency for disbursement. Rather, it remains pending and SSA sends an IAR accounting form notice to the IA agency advising them of the IAR case and requesting the IA agency to return the form indicating the amount of IA to be reimbursed. Upon receipt of the completed IAR accounting form from the IA agency, SSA will send the IA agency the total requested IA amount and will forward the balance to the client in installments.  (ACIN I-62-07, October 25, 2007)

820-4

 

 

The county is required to send the recipient or his/her representative payee a Notice of Action showing the initial payment received by the county, the amount deducted as reimbursement for interim assistance, and the amount being sent. The notice shall also include the right of the recipient to request a state hearing. (§46-337.442)

820-5

 

 

The period for which the county may reimburse itself extends from the first of the month in which the SSI/SSP application is made if the applicant was eligible in that month, through and including the month in which SSI/SSP payments begin, providing an individual authorization was signed before the initial payment was issued. (Handbook §46-337.52)

820-6

 

 

State hearings involving interim assistance shall follow the procedures in §22-000 et seq. State hearings shall be conducted by CDSS only when the issue is the apportionment of the initial payment received by the county, or when it is alleged the county has failed to comply with the requirements of §46-337.44. (§46-337.6)

820-7

ADDED 12/2007

 

Public Law 109-171, The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, was enacted by the federal government on February 1, 2006. One of this Act’s provisions addresses the mechanism by which certain initial SSI/SSP benefits are paid directly from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to Interim Assistance Reimbursement (IAR) clients in installments, rather than in lump sums.  Prior to this Act, any past-due monthly benefits that exceeded 12 times the maximum monthly SSI plus State Supplementary Program (SSP) payment amount owed to an individual were to be paid in 3 installment payments, six months apart. This Act changed the law so that any past-due monthly benefits that exceeded three times, instead of 12 times, the maximum monthly SSI plus SSP payment must be paid in these same installment increments.

 

Consistent with the new procedures, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has developed the new form SSP 18: Notice of Action and Right to Request a State Hearing on Interim Assistance for Payment Pending Cases.  This form provides information regarding procedures for clients who wish to appeal their initial SSI/SSP benefit amounts and/or the amounts SSA sends to the county IA agencies from their initial SSI/SSP benefit payments.

 

COUNTY IA AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES

When SSA elects to use the payment pending procedure, IA agencies are to use the new IAR form SSP 18 (12/06).

 

The completed SSP 18 notice must be mailed to the client within 10 working days from the date the IA agency receives the IAR payment.

 

When SSA elects not to use the payment pending procedure, IA agencies are to use the existing form SSP 17 (4/99), Notice of Action and Right to Request a State Hearing on Interim Assistance.

 

(ACIN I-62-07, October 25, 2007)

825-1

 

 

State law provides that the CDSS shall establish and supervise a county-, or county consortia - administered program, entitled the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI). This program shall begin October 1, 1998, and is to provide checks to immigrants who were discontinued from SSI/SSP effective September 30, 1998, as a result of their immigrant status. These initial checks shall be $10 less than the last SSI/SSP check.

 

Effective November 1, 1998, counties must begin to accept applications and establish the beginning date of aid. Counties must then determine eligibility and either issue CAPI payments, or authorize the CDSS to issue such payments, by