SR 09-06 Dated 03/09 (FAM)

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

DFA SIGNATURE DATE:	March 4, 2009
FROM:	OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, DFA Terry R. Smith
AT (OFFICE):	Division of Family Assistance
TO:	DFA Supervisors
SUBJECT:	Temporary Exclusion of United States Census Bureau Income for Applicants for and Recipients of All DFA Financial and Medical Assistance Programs and Child Care Assistance
EFFECTIVE DATE:	March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010

SUMMARY

This SR releases a temporary exclusion of Census Bureau earned income for applicants for and recipients of all DFA financial and medical assistance programs as well as Child Care Assistance.

Census Bureau earnings continue to be countable earned income when determining eligibility for Food Stamps.

FORMER POLICY

NEW POLICY

Income earned from employment at the US Census Bureau was treated as countable earned income for all DFA programs.

Wages earned from employment at the US Census Bureau is excluded as countable income from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010 for all DFA financial and medical assistance programs as well as Child Care Assistance.

Census Bureau income remains countable earned income for the Food Stamp Program.

POLICY

Effective March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010, wages earned from employment at the US Census Bureau are to be treated as excluded income when determining eligibility for all DFA financial and medical assistance programs, including Child Care Assistance.

Applicants or recipients who inquire about or report employment by the US Census Bureau beginning on or after the effective date of this SR must be informed that such income will not affect their eligibility or benefit level for the specified programs. Most decennial census jobs are short term, 6 to 8 week positions.

Wages earned from employment at the US Census Bureau during the 2010 Census remain countable income for the Food Stamp Program.

NEW HEIGHTS SYSTEMS PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION

New HEIGHTS will automatically exclude census wages when the income is entered as income earned from employment as a "census enumerator," per the policy released in this SR, beginning March 1, 2009.

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

SR’s Retained

Revised Adult Assistance Manual Topics

SR’s Retained

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

SR’s Retained

IMPLEMENTATION

This policy is effective from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special notification is planned. Applicants or recipients inquiring about or reporting employment by the US Census Bureau beginning on or after the effective date of this SR must be informed that such income will not affect their eligibility or benefit level for the specified programs.

TRAINING

No special training or procedures are necessary to implement this policy.

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the On-line manuals.

DISTRIBUTION

SR 09-06 will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases and will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/DHHS/DFA/LIBRARY, effective March 30, 2009.

This SR will be distributed under separate cover to all internal hard copy holders of the Family Assistance, Adult Assistance and Food Stamp Manuals and should be retained in those manuals until January 1, 2011.

DFA/KD:s