This letter transmits an amendment to Ohio Administrative Code rule 5101:1-1-90, "Ohio Works First: State Tax Refund Offset Program," with the proposed effective date of April 16, 2012. This rule was original filed on November 30, 2011 with a change to re-implement the ten-year limitation for referring claims to the State Tax Refund Offset Program; however, after clearance comments and further clarification issued via a joint letter from the Offices of Family Assistance and Fiscal and Monitoring Services on December 23, 2011 an additional change was required to align the Ohio Administrative Code rule with the new clarification. The following is a summary of the changes.

Chapter 4000

5101:1-1-90, "Ohio Works First: State Tax Refund Offset Program"

This rule has been amended to reestablish the 10-year limitation to collect on debts through the State Tax Refund Offset Program for the Ohio Works First Program. On January 1, 2011, the 10-year limitation was removed, after it also was removed for Food Assistance debts, in order to better align rules for both programs. The 10-year limit on debt collection for Food Assistance was removed effective April 15, 2010, as a result of the 2008 Farm Bill and guidance received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. However, the decision to rescind the 10-year limitation on Ohio Works First debt collection was recently reversed. Ohio Works First overpayment claims that are more than 10 years old will not be referred to the State Tax Refund Offset Program with two exceptions 1) claims reduced to final court judgments; and 2) claims due to an individual's intentional violation of the program requirements as set forth in rule 5101:1-23-75 of the Administrative Code.

Instructions:

The following chart identifies the material that should be removed from the Cash Assistance Manual and the material that should be added.