(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)"
JFS 07200 "Application for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), Cash Assistance, Medical Assistance or Child Care
Assistance" 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
but does not have to 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
is to
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
necessary 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, 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) participant" means a SNAP 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)(18) "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)(19) "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)(20) "
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)(21) "
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)(22) "Group living
arrangement" means the same as a group home.
(27)(23) "
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)(24) "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)(25)
"Household" means a personal place of residence where persons live together at
the same common address. The persons may or may
not
but do not have to be related. Group
homes and commercial establishments such as hotels or boarding houses are not
included in this definition of household.
(30)(26) "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)(27) "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)(28)
"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)(29) "
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)(30) "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)(31) "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)(32) "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)(33)
"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)(34) "
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)(35) "Overpayment"
means the amount by which benefits issued to an assistance group exceed the
amount the assistance group was eligible to receive.
(40)(36) "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)(37)
"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)(38) "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)(39)
"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
is
to be set aside on a long-term basis to serve only battered individuals
and their children.
(44)(40) "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)(41) "Social security
administration (SSA)" means the federal agency responsible for the
administration of benefits for retirement, survivors', or disability
benefits.
(46)(42) "
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)(43) "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)(44) "State data
exchange (SDX)" means the system used to verify supplemental security income
(SSI) benefits.
(49)(45) "Statewide
automated eligibility system" means the centralized automated system that
supports all eighty-eight county agencies.
(50)(46) "
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)(47) "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)(48) "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)(49) "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)(50) "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)(51)
"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.
one of four food plans developed by the United States
department of agriculture that estimates the cost of a healthy diet across
various price points. The thrifty food plan is the lowest cost of the four. It
represents a nutritious, practical, cost-effective diet prepared at home for a
"reference" family, which is defined in federal law as an adult male and
female, ages twenty to fifty, and two children, ages six to eight and nine to
eleven. It is the basis for SNAP allotments.
(56)(52) "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)(53) "United States
department of agriculture (USDA)" means the federal agency responsible for
overseeing the SNAP program.
(58)(54) "
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).