N.J. Admin. Code § 10:87-5.7 - Special income situations
(a) Moneys withheld from earned income, or other
income source, or moneys received from any income source (except as specified in (c) below) which are
voluntarily or involuntarily returned to repay a prior overpayment that is not excludable under
10:87-5.6 shall not be counted as income. Moneys withheld from
an assistance grant to repay a prior overpayment that is the result of an inadvertent client error or agency
error shall not be counted as income.
(b) Child Support under
Title IV-D shall be treated as follows:
1. Title IV-D child support
payments shall be excluded from the NJ SNAP eligibility determination and benefit calculation process,
provided that those payments shall be assigned to the CWA. Note that this income exclusion shall not apply,
however, to child support payments which are not assigned to the CWA. Child support which the household is
not required to remit to the CWA shall be considered as unearned income for NJ SNAP purposes.
2. An amount up to the first $ 100.00 per month of child support payments
received for an WFNJ family through the child support and paternity (Title IV-D) process is disregarded in
the WFNJ program and is paid to the WFNJ family in the form of disregarded child support (DCS) payment. The
amount of the DCS payment shall be counted as unearned income for NJ SNAP purposes in accordance with
10:87-5.5(a)5, as are any child support
payments received directly by a NJ SNAP household. DCS payments which are intended for a prior month shall be
excluded under 10:87-5.9.
(c) The rules for failure to comply with public assistance (PA) program
requirements (also known as "The Riverside Rule") ban an increase in NJ SNAP program benefits when income
from the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs is decreased (reduced or suspended) as a result of failure to comply with a
program requirement and a sanction has been imposed.
1. The CWA shall apply
the Riverside Rule when an individual commits an act of noncompliance in the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs and it
results in a sanctioning of that individual, regardless of whether or not there is a disqualification in the
NJ SNAP program.
2. The CWA shall apply the Riverside Rule if an
individual commits an act of fraud in the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs and it has been determined that an IPV
exists.
i. The Riverside Rule shall also apply when an IPV has been
committed, which results in a sanction.
3. The PA
amount to be considered as income for NJ SNAP purposes shall be the pre-sanction amount. This pre-sanction
amount shall be used until the sanction is removed.
i. If a new member is
added to the PA household during the period of sanction, the TANF grant increases and the calculation of NJ
SNAP benefits shall be based on the new TANF grant amount as the TANF countable income. The new member added
to the PA household will also increase the NJ SNAP benefit amount since the new person is also added to the
NJ SNAP household. If the new member is a capped child the WFNJ/TANF grant will not increase, however, the
child will be included in the NJ SNAP household and the NJ SNAP allotment shall increase
accordingly.
4. The Riverside Rule shall be applied
during the full period of the PA sanction.
5. In the event that
the Riverside Rule is invoked and the household's PA is terminated, in order to receive NJ SNAP benefits, the
household shall apply for non-public assistance NJ SNAP benefits.
6. In multi-person households, if the individual who committed the act of
noncompliance leaves the household's residence, the Riverside Rule penalty shall continue to apply to the
noncompliant individual until the sanction period ends. The Riverside Rule penalty shall not be applied to
any remaining household members.
7. The Riverside Rule shall not
apply to individuals who fail to comply with a PA program requirement at the time of application and, thus,
are never issued a PA benefit.
8. The CWA shall not apply the
Riverside Rule and shall not count as income monies withheld from an assistance grant to repay a prior
overpayment that is the result of an inadvertent household error or agency error.
i. Monies withheld from an assistance grant due to an IPV shall invoke the
Riverside Rule.
9. The Riverside Rule does not apply
to Supplemental Living Support payments.
10. If the CWA is not
successful in obtaining the necessary cooperation from a municipal welfare agency to enable it to comply with
the requirements of this provision, the CWA shall not be held responsible for noncompliance as long as the
CWA has made a good faith effort to obtain information regarding a noncompliance. Attempts to obtain
information from the appropriate agency shall be documented in the case record.
(d) The following are good cause reasons for not applying the Riverside
Rule. The ban on increasing benefits does not apply under these circumstances.
1. Clients whose WFNJ/TANF or WFNJ/GA benefits are terminated;
2. Clients have a child subject to the TANF family cap;
3. Clients fail to reapply or to complete the reapplication process for
continued WFNJ cash assistance;
4. Clients fail to perform a
purely procedural requirement, such as failing to sign an application; or
5. Clients fail to perform a required action because they are unable to
complete the action through no fault of their own.
Notes
See: 17 N.J.R. 986(a).
Readopted by R.1985 d.313, effective
See: 17 N.J.R. 986(a), 17 N.J.R. 1567(a).
Amended by R.1989 d.121, effective
See: 20 N.J.R. 2689(a), 21 N.J.R. 511(b).
Substantially amended.
Amended by R.1998 d.498, effective
See: 30 N.J.R. 1928(a), 30 N.J.R. 3669(b).
In (b) and (c), substituted references to WFNJ for references to AFDC and GA throughout; in (b)1, substituted a reference to administrative determination for a reference to determination; in (c)1, added iii; rewrote (d); and added (e).
Amended by R.1999 d.6, effective
See: 30 N.J.R. 3451(a), 31 N.J.R. 69(a).
In (c), substituted references to SSI and WFNJ for references to AFDC, SSI and GA.
Amended by R.2004 d.181, effective
See: 36 N.J.R. 28(a), 36 N.J.R. 2425(a).
Rewrote the section.
Amended by R.2007 d.129, effective
See: 38 N.J.R. 4374(a), 39 N.J.R. 1719(a).
Rewrote (c).
Amended by R.2009 d.94, effective
See: 40 N.J.R. 5932(a), 41 N.J.R. 1245(b).
In the introductory paragraph of (c), substituted "or suspended" for ", suspended or terminated"; in (c)2i, inserted a comma following "committed" and deleted "and the closure of a case" from the end; in (c)4, deleted the last sentence; in the introductory paragraph of (c)5, deleted "and the Riverside Rule penalty shall apply for three months after the termination of PA benefits" from the end; deleted (c)5i; and in (d)1, deleted "due to the five-year time limit on eligibility" from the end.
Amended by R.2009 d.135, effective
See: 40 N.J.R. 5501(a), 41 N.J.R. 1861(a).
In (b)2, substituted "$ 100.00" for "$ 50.00".
Administrative change.
See: 44 N.J.R. 1529(a).
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