Background: On March 8, 2019, the
United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service issued a
memorandum offering states the opportunity to participate in a demonstration
project to exclude earned income from temporary employment in the 2020 Census.
For States that choose to participate, earned income from temporary Census
employment will be excluded for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) benefits through September 30, 2020.
Current Policy: The census income is
currently considered countable income in the SNAP budget.
New Policy: On April 1, 2019, Ohio
applied for and was approved to participate in the 2020 Census Income
Demonstration Project. Effective immediately, any income received from
temporary employment in the 2020 Census is excluded from the SNAP budget.
Participation in this demonstration project helps to further align policy among
the SNAP, cash assistance and Medicaid programs.
Implementation: Ohio Benefits (OB)
functionality excludes Census income from both cash and SNAP budgets. Workers
should enter Census income in OB by completing the following steps:
1.From the
Eligibility tab, select Customer Information and access the Employment Screen.
2.Create a
Census employment record for the customer.
3.Once the
screen is complete, select “Save and Return” to save the employment record.
4.From the
Eligibility tab, select Customer Information and access the Income Screen.
5.Enter
“Earnings” as the Income Category and select “Add” to add the income record on
the Income Detail Screen.
6.On the Income
Detail Screen, enter the Type as “Census Earnings – Decennial, Temporary.”
7.For
Employment, select and link the Census employment record.
8.Once the
Income Detail Screen is complete, select “Save and Return” to save the income
record.