(A)This rule
describes the terms and meanings used to administer the supplemental nutrition
assistance program (SNAP), formerly known as the food assistance program. These
definitions are not intended to fully explain or to limit the scope of any
action in the administration of the program.
(B)Definition:
(1)"Alien status verification index
(ASVI)" means the automated database maintained by the department of
homeland security, United States (U.S.) citizenship and immigration services
(USCIS) office which may be accessed by county agencies to verify immigration
status.
(2)(1) "Allotment" means the total value
of SNAP benefits an assistance group is authorized to receive during each month
or other time period. The allotment may be issued in the form of a check
(cash-out) or electronic benefit transfer (EBT).
(2)"Application for Cash, Food, or
Medical Assistance (JFS 7200)" means the document utilized by the state of
Ohio as an application for cash, food, and medical assistance. It is also a
screening device for determining entitlement to expedited SNAP benefits. It is
the beginning step in the application process and is used in conjunction with
the interactive interview.
(3)"Assessment"
means an in-depth evaluation of employability skills coupled with counseling on
how and where to search for employment.
(4)"Assistance
group" means those persons potentially eligible or determined eligible to
receive benefits together under one assistance group name. This was formerly
referred to as the SNAP household. The assistance group
is also known as the standard filing unit (SFU) in the statewide automated
eligibility system.
(5)"Assistance
group name" means the case name. All assistance groups will have an
assistance group name. The assistance group name may or may not be the
applicant. The person designated as the assistance group name will be the
person to receive all notices and will assume all responsibilities such as
reviewing the application form for completeness and validity, signing and
dating the application, participating in the interactive interview and
accepting the program rights and responsibilities unless the assistance group
has designated an authorized representative to apply on their behalf.
(6)"Assistance
group payee" means a person who is designated to receive the benefits for
an assistance group. The person who is the assistance group name will be the
payee unless the assistance group has an authorized representative to receive
the benefits. There will only be one assistance group payee per assistance
group and benefits will only be issued to this person.
(7)"Beneficiary
and earnings data exchange (BENDEX)" means the system that is used to
verify social security benefit information.
(8)"Case file or case record" means all program information, verification, application, forms, notices
and journal entries used to make an eligibility determination for the assistance
groups group who live in the same household. The
county agency shall make every effort to assign all assistance groups contained
in the same case to one eligibility worker.
(9)"Case
Worksheet-Cash, Food Stamp, and Medical Assistance Interview (JFS 01846)" (5/2005) means the document which is utilized by the
state of Ohio to gather data for the cash, food, and medical assistance
programs for home visits and telephone interviews when the statewide automated
eligibility system is unavailable. The applicant must acknowledge the
information on the form by signing and dating the form.
(10) "Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR)" means the codification of the rules published
in the Federal Register by the U. S. government.
(11) "Date of
entry" means the date established by U.S. citizenship and immigration
services (USCIS) as the date an alien was admitted into the United States.
(12) "Department
of housing and urban development (HUD)" means a governmental agency that
provides housing to low-income households.
(13) "Disability financial assistance
(DFA)" means the state-funded program which provides cash assistance to
individuals in accordance with Chapter 5101:1-5 of the Administrative Code.
(14)(13)"Drug addiction or alcoholic
treatment and rehabilitation program" means any drug addiction or
alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program conducted by a private nonprofit
organization or institution, or publicly operated community mental health
center, under part B of Title XIX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
300x) (1992).
(15)(14)"Elderly or disabled member"
means a member of an assistance group who:
(a)Is sixty
years of age or older;
(b)Receives
supplemental security income benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security
Act of 1935 or disability or blindness payments under Title I, II, X, XIV, or
XVI of the Social Security Act;
(c)Is a veteran
with a service-connected or nonservice-connected disability rated by the veterans'veterans
administration as total or paid as total under Title 38 of the United States
Code (U.S.C.) (2002);
(d)Is considered
in need of regular aid and attendance or permanently housebound under such
title of the code;
(e)Is a surviving
spouse of a veteran and considered by the veterans'veterans administration to be in need of regular aid
and attendance or permanently housebound or a surviving child of a veteran and
considered by the veterans'veterans administration to be permanently incapable of
self-support under Title 38 of the U.S.C.;
(f)Is a
surviving spouse or surviving child of a veteran and considered by the veterans'veterans
administration to be entitled to compensation for a service-connected death or
pension benefits for a nonservice-connected death under Title 38 of the U.S.C.
and has a disability considered permanent under section 221(i) of the Social
Security Act. "Entitled" as used in this definition refers to those
veterans' surviving spouses and children who are receiving the compensation or
pension benefits stated or have been approved for such payments, but are not
receiving them;
(g)Receives
federally or state-administered supplemental benefits under section 1616(a) of
the Social Security Act provided that the eligibility to receive the benefits
is based upon the disability or blindness criteria used under Title XVI of the
Social Security Act;
(h)Receives
disability retirement benefits from a governmental agency because of disability
considered permanent under section 221(i) of the Social Security Act;
(i)Received an
annuity payment under section (2)(a)(1)(iv) of the Railroad Retirement Act of
1974 and is determined to be eligible to receive medicare by the railroad
retirement board; or section (2)(a)(1)(v) of the Railroad Retirement Act of
1974 and is determined to be disabled based upon the criteria used under Title
XVI of the Social Security Act;
(j)Is a
recipient of interim assistance benefits pending the receipt of supplemental
security income; or
(k)Receives
federally or state administered supplemental benefits under section 212(a) of
P.L. No. 93.66, 42 U.S.C. 1382, (12/2013).
(16)(15)"Eligibility
determination/benefit calculation (ED/BC)" means the automated process of
determining eligibility and the level of benefits by the statewide automated
eligibility system which is based on data entered into the system.
(17)(16)"Eligibility worker" means
an employee of the county agency responsible for determining eligibility for
SNAP.
(18)(17)"Eligible foods" means:
(a)Any food or
food product intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages,
tobacco, hot foods, hot food products prepared for immediate consumption;
(b)Seeds and
plants to grow foods for the personal consumption of eligible assistance
groups;
(c)Meals
prepared and delivered by an authorized meal delivery service;
(d)Meals served
by a communal dining facility for the elderly and their spouses, disabled
recipients who receive social security or supplemental security income (SSI)
and their spouses, and to homeless assistance groups;
(e)Meals prepared
and served by an authorized drug addict or alcoholic treatment and
rehabilitation center to narcotic addicts or alcoholics and their children who
live with them;
(f)Meals
prepared and served by a group living arrangement facility to residents who are
blind or disabled as defined in paragraphs (B) (15)(b) to (B) (15)(k) of this
rule;
(g)Meals
prepared and served by a shelter for battered individuals and children to its
eligible residents;
(h)Meals
prepared and served by an authorized public or private nonprofit establishment
(e.g., soup kitchen, temporary shelter), as determined by the county agency,
which provides meals on a regular basis to homeless persons; and
(i)Container
deposit fee required to purchase any food or food product contained in a
returnable bottle, can or other container, regardless of whether the fee is
included in the shelf price posted for the food or food product, as long as the
amount does not exceed the state's container deposit fee.
(19)(18)"Employment and training (E&T) component" means a work experience, work
training or supervised job search program as described in section
6(d)(4)(B)(i)(I) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015), (7/2014)(12/2018)
designed to help SNAP recipients move promptly into unsubsidized employment.
(20)(19)"Employment and training (E&T) mandatory participant" means a SNAP
program applicant or participant who is required to be work-registered
according to rule 5101:4-3-11 of the Administrative Code.
(20) "Employment and training (E&T)
program" means a program operated by each county agency consisting of one
or more work, training, education or supervised job search components.
(21) "Employment
services" means the agency responsible for work registration and job
search activities.
(22) "SNAP employment and training
program" means a program operated by each county agency consisting of one
or more work, training, education or job search components.
(23)(22)"Food and nutrition service
(FNS)" means the federal agency of the United
States department of agriculture (USDA) responsible for the overall
administration of the SNAP program.
(23) "Guardian" means, an individual
that is granted authority by a probate court pursuant to Chapter 2111 of the
Revised Code, or a court of competent jurisdiction in another state, to
exercise parental rights over a child under the age of eighteen to the extent
provided in the court's order and subject to residual parental rights of the
child's parents.
(24) "Guardianship payments" means a
payment made to a person who becomes a legal guardian of a child under the age
of eighteen that can include:
(a)Kinship care payments which enables
children and families to remain connected to their family of origin; or
(b)Subsidized guardianship payments for foster
care which enables children who cannot be adopted, and do not live with
relatives, to have a greater degree of permanency.
(24) "SNAP program" means a program
designed to promote general welfare and to safeguard the health and well-being
of the nation's population by raising the levels of nutrition among low-income
households.
(25) "Group
home" means a public or private nonprofit residential setting that
provides its residents with a majority of their meals (over fifty per cent of
their meals daily), has no more than sixteen residents, and is certified by a
public agency of the state of Ohio under section 1616(e) of the Social Security
Act, or under standards determined by the secretary of the United States
department of agriculture to be comparable to standards implemented by
appropriate state agencies under section 1616(e) of the Social Security Act. In accordance with rule 5101:4-6-26 of the Administrative
Code to be eligible for SNAP benefits, a resident of the group home is to be
blind or disabled as defined in paragraph (B)(15)(b) to (B)(15(k) of this rule.
(26) "Group
living arrangement" means the same as a group home.
(27) "Homeless
individual" means an individual who lacks a fixed and regular night time
residence or an individual whose primary night time residence is:
(a)A supervised
shelter designed to provide temporary accommodations (such as a welfare hotel
or congregate shelter);
(b)A halfway
house or similar institution that provides temporary residence for individuals
intended to be institutionalized;
(c)A night time
residence which is a temporary accommodation for no more than ninety days from
the date the temporary accommodation began in the residence of another
individual; or
(d)A place not
designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for
human beings (a hallway, a bus station, a lobby or similar places).
(28) "Homeless
meal provider" means an authorized public or private establishment (e.g.,
soup kitchen, temporary shelter), which provides meals on a regular basis to
homeless persons, as determined by the county agency.
(29) "Household"
means a personal place of residence where persons live together at the same
common address. The persons may or may not be related. Group homes and
commercial establishments such as hotels or boarding houses are not included in
this definition of household. The entire household will be referred to as the
case. A household may contain more than one assistance
group.
(30) "Income
and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS)" means a system of information
acquisition and exchange for purposes of income and eligibility verification
which meets the requirements of section 1137 of the Social Security Act.
(31) "Interactive
interview" means the interview between the eligibility worker and the
applicant to discuss eligibility information to determine benefits. The
interview may be conducted face-to-face, by telephone or a home visit.
(32) "Internal
revenue service (IRS)" means the federal agency responsible for the
administration of governmental income from taxes,
including collection of taxes and enforcement of tax laws.
(33) "Kinship support payments"
means the payment that is received by caretakers for children in accordance
with rule 5101:2-42-18.2 of the Administrative Code.
(33)(34)"Management evaluation (ME)
review," means an analysis conducted to determine if a county is
administering and operating the SNAP program in accordance with program
requirements.
(34)(35)"Minimum benefit" means the
lowest full monthly amount of SNAP that an eligible one or two person
assistance group may receive. By law, this amount is eight per cent of the
maximum allotment for an assistance group containing one member, rounded to the
nearest dollar.
(35)(36)"Non-assistance" means an
assistance group that participates in the SNAP program but at least one of its
members does not receive public assistance.
(36)(37)"Ohio works first (OWF)"
means a program funded under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act. This
program was formerly referred to as the "TANF program" and the
"ADC program."
(37)(38)"Ohio works first (OWF)
recipient" means any person who receives an OWF payment, in accordance
with paragraph (E) of rule 5101:1-23-01 of the Administrative Code.
(38)(39)"Overpayment" means the
amount by which benefits issued to an assistance group exceed the amount the
assistance group was eligible to receive.
(39)(40)"Public assistance (PA)"
means any of the following programs authorized by the Social Security Act:
old-age assistance; TANF funded under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act;
aid to the blind; aid to the permanently and totally disabled; and aid to the
aged, blind, or disabled. Public assistance also refers
to DFA, except for purposes of the employment and training program and for
purposes of resource exclusions in accordance with rule 5101:4-4-03.3 of the
Administrative Code.
(40)(41)"Quality control (QC)
review" means a review of a statistically valid sample of active and
negative cases to determine the extent to which households are receiving the
SNAP allotments to which they are entitled, and to determine the extent to
which decisions to deny, suspend or terminate cases are correct.
(41)(42)"Retail food store" means an
establishment or recognized department of an establishment, or a house-to-house
trade route, whose eligible food sales volume as determined by visual
inspection, sales records, or other methods that are customary or reasonable in
the retail food industry, is more than fifty per cent staple food items for
home preparation and consumption; public or private communal dining facilities
and meal delivery services; private nonprofit drug addict or alcoholic
treatment and rehabilitation programs; publicly operated community mental
health centers for drug addicts and/or alcoholics; public or private nonprofit
group living arrangements; public or private nonprofit shelters for battered
women and children; public or private establishments approved by an appropriate
state or local agency that feeds homeless persons; any private nonprofit
cooperative food purchasing venture, including those whose members pay for food
prior to receipt of the food; and a farmer's market.
(42) "Request for Cash, Food, and Medical
Assistance (JFS 07200)" (10/2018) means the document (formerly referred to
as the APPL) utilized by the state of Ohio as an application for cash, food,
and medical assistance. It is also a screening device for determining
entitlement to expedited SNAP benefits. It is the beginning step in the
application process and is used in conjunction with the interactive interview.
(43) "Shelter
for battered individuals and children" means a public or private nonprofit
residential facility that serves battered individuals and their children. When
such a facility serves other individuals, a portion of the facility must be set
aside on a long-term basis to serve only battered individuals and their
children.
(44) "SNAP program" means a program
designed to promote general welfare and to safeguard the health and well-being
of the nation's population by raising the levels of nutrition among low-income
households.
(44)(45)"Social security administration
(SSA)" means the federal agency responsible for the administration of
benefits for old ageretirement,
survivors', unemployment, or disability benefits.
(45)(46)"Spouse" means:
(a)Those defined
as married to each other under applicable state law and those required to be
recognized as married pursuant to the United States supreme court decision in
Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S., 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015); or
(b)Those who are
living together and are holding themselves out to the community as husband and
wife by representing themselves as such to relatives, friends, neighbors, or
tradespeople. Since October 10, 1991 Ohio has not recognized common law
marriages so only couples established as a common law marriage prior to October
10, 1991 fall under this definition.
(46) "Standard filing unit (SFU)"
means the automated process of determining which persons shall comprise an
assistance group based on data entered into the statewide automated eligibility
system.
(47) "State
agency" means the Ohio department of job and family services, including
the local offices, whichthat
have the responsibility for the administration of the federally aided public
assistance programs within the state.
(48) "State
data exchange (SDX)" means the system used to verify supplemental security
income (SSI) benefits.
(49) "Statewide
automated eligibility system" means the centralized automated system that
supports all eighty-eight county agencies.
(50) "Substantial lottery or gambling
winnings" means a cash prize won in a single game before taxes or other
withholdings are taken that is equal to or greater than the maximum allowable
financial resource limit for elderly or disabled households as outlined in rule
5101:4-4-01 of the Administrative Code. In Ohio this may include but is not
limited to payouts from casinos, racinos, slot machines, poker, and keno and
other forms of gambling. All assistance groups are subject to report lottery or
gambling winnings equal to or greater than the limit defined in rule
5101:4-4-01 of the Administrative Code. Resource limits are reviewed and
adjusted annually; a food assistance transmittal letter is issued notifying the
county agencies of the updated amounts. Division 3770:1 of the Administrative
Code describes the types of lottery permitted in Ohio. Section 2915.01 of the
Revised Code defines gambling as permitted in Ohio. This is not limited to
substantial lottery or gambling winnings won only in Ohio.
(50)(51)"Supplemental security income
(SSI)" means cash payments made under the authority of Title XVI of the
Social Security Act, to the aged, blind, and disabled; or section 1616(a) of
the Social Security Act.
(51)(52)"Supplemental security income
(SSI) recipient" means a person who receives SSI payments, whose entire
SSI grant is being recouped, whose SSI case is in suspended status, or whose
SSI has been authorized but payment has yet to be received.
(52)(53)"Systematic alien verification
for entitlements (SAVE)" means the U.S. citizenship and immigration
services (USCIS) whereby county agencies may verify the validity of documents
provided by aliens applying for SNAP benefits by obtaining information from a
central data file.
(53)(54)"Temporary assistance for needy
families (TANF)" means a program funded under Title IV-A of the Social
Security Act. This is the title used in federal legislation and regulations.
Ohio has adopted the title "Ohio works first (OWF)" for its Title IV-A
cash assistance program and the "prevention, retention, and contingency
program (PRC)" for its benefits and services program.
(54)(55)"Thrifty food plan" means
the diet required to feed a family of four persons consisting of a man and a
woman ages twenty through fifty, a child ages six through eight, and a child
ages nine through eleven determined in accordance with the secretary of
agriculture's calculations. The cost of such diet shall be the basis for
uniform allotments for all assistance groups regardless of their actual
composition. In order to develop maximum SNAP allotments, the secretary of
agriculture shall make assistance group size and other adjustments in the
thrifty food plan taking into account economies of scale and other adjustments
as required by law.
(55)(56)"U.S. citizenship and immigration
service (USCIS)" (formerly known as the immigration and naturalization
service) is an agency under the department of homeland security.
(56)(57)"United States department of
agriculture (USDA)" means the federal agency responsible for overseeing
the SNAP program.
(57)(58)"Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA)" means the legislation providing funding for job
training, adult education, education for youths, employment for dislocated
workers, and vocational rehabilitation. This legislation was formerly
administered by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
(58)(59)"Work program" means:
(a)A program
under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (Pub. L. No.
113-128);
(b)A program
under section 236 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2296)(7/2014); and
(c)A program of
employment and training operated or supervised by a state or political
subdivision of a state that meets standards approved by the governor of the
state, including a program under section 6 (d)(4) of the Food and Nutrition
Act.
(d)A program of employment and training
for veterans operated by the department of labor or the department of veterans
affairs, and approved by the United States department of agriculture (USDA)
food and nutrition service (FNS).
Effective: 4/1/2021
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 1/15/2021 and 04/01/2026
Certification: CERTIFIED ELECTRONICALLY
Date: 03/22/2021
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 5101.54
Rule Amplifies: 329.04, 329.042, 5101.54, 5101.884
Prior Effective Dates: 06/02/1980, 12/01/1980, 10/01/1981,
07/01/1982, 06/01/1983, 12/25/1983 (Temp.), 02/01/1984 (Temp.), 02/16/1984
(Temp.), 04/01/1984, 08/01/1984 (Emer.), 10/20/1984, 02/15/1985 (Emer.),
05/12/1985, 08/16/1985 (Emer.), 11/01/1985 (Emer.), 01/01/1986, 06/15/1986
(Emer.), 09/13/1986, 01/16/1987 (Emer.), 04/10/1987 (Emer.), 06/22/1987,
07/01/1987 (Emer.), 09/28/1987, 01/01/1988 (Emer.), 02/26/1988, 03/24/1988
(Emer.), 06/18/1988, 07/11/1989 (Emer.), 09/17/1989, 10/01/1989 (Emer.), 12/21/1989,
01/05/1990 (Emer.), 04/07/1990, 07/01/1991, 02/03/1992, 07/01/1992, 08/01/1992
(Emer.), 10/30/1992, 06/01/1993, 08/01/1994, 09/01/1994 (Emer.), 10/17/1994,
12/01/1994 (Emer.), 01/01/1995, 05/01/1995, 08/01/1995 (Emer.), 10/13/1995,
02/01/1996, 09/22/1996 (Emer.), 12/21/1996, 04/01/1997 (Emer.), 06/06/1997,
10/01/1997 (Emer.), 12/15/1997, 07/15/1999, 10/01/2001 (Emer.), 10/11/2001,
05/02/2005, 10/01/2008 (Emer.), 12/18/2008, 08/01/2010, 09/01/2012, 10/01/2016,
03/01/2018, 11/01/2019