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OTDA Regulatory Agenda
Choose from the following topics:
- Introduction
- Child Well Being
- Employment and Economic Supports
- Audit and Quality Improvement
- Reimbursement and Claims
- Technical Amendments
Introduction
Pursuant to section 202-d of the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA), the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) is required to publish a regulatory agenda for those regulations that it is considering for publication in the State Register. Set forth below is an agenda for the second half of 2009. Section 202-d of SAPA does not preclude OTDA from proposing for adoption a regulation that is not described in the agenda, nor does it require OTDA to propose for adoption a regulation that is described in the agenda.
Child Well Being
- Establish guidelines for the local child support enforcement units to follow in determining whether and under what circumstances a passport, which has been revoked, denied or suspended by the US Department of State due to non-payment of child support, may be released.*
- Amend location definition and procedures concerning the financial investigation of a putative father to facilitate the establishment of a child support order.*
- Amend references to child support standards chart to reflect annual change in the federal poverty income guidelines amount and the self-support reserve.
- Revise regulations for the distribution and assignment of child support collections to reflect the requirements of Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2008 and federal law and to conform with the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act’s elimination of excess current support.*
- Revise regulation pertaining to federal incentive payments.*
- Address annual service fee for never assistance cases and revise legal services section.*
- Revise desk review procedures addressing the accounting and disbursement of child support for certain current and former recipients of Public Assistance.*
- Establish regulations for establishing and enforcing medical support obligations.*
Employment and Economic Supports
- Clarify provisions concerning the submission of a social security number as a condition of eligibility for Public Assistance.*
- Extend the deeming of an alien sponsor's income and resources to federally funded Safety Net Assistance.*
- Provide consistency between the Family Assistance program and the Safety Net Assistance program concerning the treatment of loans, income and resources.*
- Simplify the Public Assistance budgeting methodology for certain three generation households.*
- Amend regulations to add timeliness provisions for reporting changes in income for Public Assistance.*
- Amend Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) regulations to reflect current practices and the provisions of the federally accepted HEAP State Plan.*
- Amend regulations to meet the requirements of Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2009 to establish three new schedules for the standard of monthly need for determining eligibility for all categories of public assistance that become effective July 1, 2009, July 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011 consecutively.
- Amend regulations to meet the requirements of Chapter 53 of the Laws of 2009 to authorize social services districts to provide shelter allowance supplements at local option to all Public Assistance households in order to prevent eviction and address homelessness.*
- Update provisions regarding fair hearing requests for HEAP benefits.*
- Revise assessment regulations to clarify that the requirements for exempt individuals in households without dependent children are consistent with those for exempt individuals in households with dependent children.*
- Amend employment program provisions for notices of conciliation and notices of discontinuance or reduction to implement plain language requirements.*
- Establish additional guidelines regarding work activity definitions and work documentation and verification procedures to make them consistent with standards required by federal regulations implementing the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.*
- Implement changes to participation rate regulations to conform to amendments to the Social Services Law which require social services districts to expand the countable work activities available to Safety Net Assistance participants without children to include community service programs, the provision of child care services to an individual participating in community service and time limited vocational education training, job search and job readiness assistance.*
- Revise regulations for employment to comply with final federal regulations.*
- Revise Food Stamp employment and training regulations to conform with federal regulations.*
- Clarify how participation rates are calculated based on federal reporting requirements and clarify the calculation of two distinct Safety Net Assistance work participation rates.*
- Correct a technical error in regulation related to good cause for failing to comply with work requirements.
- Identify cases that may be excluded from participation rates pursuant to federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) regulations.*
- Repeal provisions which permit foster care parents and individuals who are caring for a disabled household member to be deemed as community service participants as required by federal regulations implementing the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
- Authorize shift of certain cases to non-TANF Family Assistance or to non-MOE (non-Maintenance of Effort) Safety Net Assistance to facilitate implementation of changes made by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.*
- Remove quarterly reporting as a district optional requirement for Public Assistance programs.*
- Amend regulations which govern Emergency Shelter Allowances to reflect Chapter 53 of the Laws of 2008.*
- Amend regulations to define the social services districts’ responsibility to provide temporary housing to sex offenders and to consider certain factors when making a determination about the appropriateness of a temporary housing placement.*
- Update provisions regarding persons who are permanently residing in the United States under the color of law (PRUCOL).*
- Delete the regulatory provisions relating to the Learnfare program.
- Revise Food Stamp regulations concerning the special definition of the “head of the household.”*
- Update the determination of Food Stamp eligibility regulations to include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) live-alone New York State Nutrition Improvement Program provisions and education grant exclusions.*
- Delete Food Stamp monthly reporting/retrospective budgeting references and add provisions for change reporting.*
- Delete provisions relating to Food Assistance Program.
- Conform regulations concerning in-office interviews for Food Stamp applicants to federal requirements.*
- Clarify the policy regarding claims establishment and the collection process for Food Stamp overpayments.*
- Generally update Food Stamp regulations to conform to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and to recent changes in the federal regulations.*
- Amend regulations to accommodate the Statewide implementation of the Working Families Food Stamp Initiative.*
- Amend regulations to reflect expanded categorical eligibility for the Food Stamp program.*
- Amend Food Stamp reporting requirements for elderly and disabled persons.*
- Update regulations for transitional food stamp benefits.*
Audit and Quality Improvement
- Amend regulations governing intentional program violations to make the State’s requirements for a ten year disqualification from the Food Stamp program consistent with the federal requirements set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations.*
Reimbursement and Claims
- Amend regulations concerning reimbursement claiming to reflect current Federal and State requirements and current State and local district practices.*
- Amend maintenance assistance sections to reflect new program categories under Welfare Reform.*
- Add a section on fiscal penalties/sanctions that may be applied to social services districts resulting from Welfare Reform requirements.*
- Remove administrative cost cap section as this process is no longer in existance.*
- Amend employment section to reflect new program categories under Welfare Reform.*
Technical Amendments
- Update regulations concerning public access to records under the Freedom of Information Law to reflect statutory amendments.*
- Revise fair hearings regulation to clarify the distinction between the standard of proof required at the hearing and the standard required for judicial review.*
- Amend fair hearing regulations to add provisions concerning a telephone hearings process.*
- Amend the definition of the fair hearing record as it pertains to decisions without a hearing.*
It is not anticipated that a small business guide will need to be developed for the proposals set forth in this agenda.
* The asterisks identify rules for which a regulatory flexibility analysis or a rural area flexibility analysis may be required.
Any questions concerning the items listed in this agenda can be referred to:
Jeanine Stander Behuniak
Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
40 North Pearl Street 16C
Albany, New York 12243
Telephone: (518) 474-9779
E-mail: Jeanine.Behuniak@OTDA.state.ny.us