Effective September 26, 1996, Substitute House Bill 437 required each state agency to review its rules a minimum of once every five years. The intent of the law is to ensure that rules are clearly written and that program requirements are accurate, up-to-date, and clearly expressed. To the extent possible, unnecessary paperwork is eliminated and local agencies are given increased flexibility. The purpose of the review is to determine whether a rule should be continued without amendment, be amended, or be rescinded, taking into consideration each rule's purpose and scope.

Pursuant to the Debt Collection Act of 1982 and the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, states are mandated to refer delinquent federal debts to the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for administrative offset. For this purpose, Treasury administers the Treasury Offset Program (TOP).

This letter transmits changes to the TOP, formerly known as the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program (FTROP) and the Federal Salary Offset Program. Former Ohio Administrative Code rules 5101:4-8-30, 5101:4-8-31, 5101:4-8-32, 5101:4-8-33, and 5101:4-8-34 have been combined into one rule, 5101:4-8-30, which replaces sections 8300 through 8312.

In addition to federal income tax refunds and federal salaries, other eligible federal payments which are due the debtor are withheld to offset applicable food stamp claims. These include federal retirement income, contractor / vendor payments, certain federal benefit payments, and certain federal loans.

All food stamp claim categories (IPV, IHE, and AE) may be referred to the TOP, so reference to claim category has been eliminated in the new rule.

Claims may be referred throughout the year whenever they are found to meet necessary criteria, rather than just once each program year, so reference to certain dates for mailing of notices and certification of debts has been eliminated. Eventually, a calendar of claim selection, notice, and certification dates will be sent to each CDHS.

After certification, the TOP will offset from all eligible federal payments until the debt is satisfied or the referral is canceled. Once a claim is certified to the TOP, it will remain certified until paid in full through offset, or until ODHS requests that the debt be removed for some other reason. Consequently, reference to "program year" has been eliminated.

Notices, program timetables, and "acceptable repayment arrangements" are applied identically for all

TOP debtors, regardless of whether or not they are federal employees. Therefore, this rule no longer includes separate instruction for federal salary offset cases.

Forms

The ODHS 7430 Treasury Offset Program Referral Cancellation Form (Appendix 80), and the Model Treasury Offset Program Review Decision forms (Appendices 81 and 82) have been revised to incorporate the change in the program's name.

The automated 60-day notice form BV60A1 has been revised to comply with new federal TOP notice requirements.

The automated notice forms BV61A1, BV62A1, and BV63A1 have been revised to incorporate the change in the program's name.

The automated notice form BV65A1 (Salary Offset) has been eliminated.

Implementation

These changes are effective September 1, 1998.