Ohio Admin. Code 5101:4-1-03 - [Effective until 10/1/2024] Food assistance: definitions
(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) "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.
(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
group.
(9) "Case Worksheet-Cash,
Food Stamp, and Medical Assistance Interview (JFS 01846)" 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) "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).
(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 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 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 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 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).
(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.
(16) "Eligibility worker" means an employee
of the county agency responsible for determining eligibility for
SNAP.
(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.
(18) "Employment and training (E&T)
component" means a work experience, education and training,
or supervised job search, work-based learning or job retention program as
described in Chapter 5101:4-3 of the Administrative Code designed to help SNAP
recipients move promptly into unsubsidized employment.
(19) "Employment and training (E&T)
mandatory participant" means a SNAP
program applicant or participant
recipient who has been
referred to the SNAP E&T program and is either required to be work-registered according to
rule 5101:4-3-11 of the
Administrative Code or volunteers to participate .
(20) "Employment and training
(E&T) program" means a program operated by each county agency consisting of
case management and one or more E&T components.
(21) "Employment services" means the agency
responsible for work registration and job search activities.
(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.
(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 paragraphs (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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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."
(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.
(39)
"Overpayment" means the amount by which benefits issued to an assistance group
exceed the amount the assistance group was eligible to receive.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(45) "Social security
administration (SSA)" means the federal agency responsible for the
administration of benefits for retirement, survivors', or disability
benefits.
(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.
(47) "State
agency" means the Ohio department of job and family services, including the
local offices, that 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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(57) "United States
department of agriculture (USDA)" means the federal agency responsible for
overseeing the SNAP program.
(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.
(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).
Notes
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, 04/01/2021, 11/18/2021
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