The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has provided guidance in serving Hurricane Harvey evacuees. Evacuees applying in Kansas will be served through expedited SNAP rules.

These procedures apply to people who at the time of the disaster or mandatory evacuation order:

• Were residents of a county that received a Presidential disaster declaration for Individual Assistance (current disaster declarations can be found at https://www.fema.gov/disasters);
• Evacuated to another State; and
• Did not receive SNAP benefits in the month of August 2017.
• The State agency will consider applicants identifying themselves as evacuees from Hurricane Harvey to have met the criteria for expedited service if an application is received from evacuees by September 30, 2017;
• The State agency will process these cases using its existing procedures for expedited households;
• The State agency will screen applicants for duplicate participation through its eligibility system and contact the home State prior to issuing benefits (see below for State-specific procedures); and
• The State agency will report to FNS the number of evacuees (persons and households) served and the amount of benefits issued on a weekly basis using the attached report form.

State Specific Duplicate Participation Procedures:

To verify duplicate participation with the State of Texas, call 1-877-541-7905, then select the following options from the Interactive Voice Response System:

• Option 1 for English;
• Option 2 for Your Texas benefit information;
• Option 1 for Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF information;
• Option 1 to enter Social Security number for someone on your case; –OR-
• Option 2 to enter Texas case number –OR-
• Option 3 if information is unknown or for help with the YourTexasBenefits.com website; (caller will be routed to the next available agent)

To obtain replacement EBT cards for ongoing SNAP households that are certified in Texas but have evacuated to another State, individuals should contact the Lone Star Help Desk at 1-800- 777-7EBT (1-800-777-7328) to request a replacement card and one will be mailed.

Before a worker approves or denies a case they will need to staff it with their supervisor and the supervisor will collect the data to complete the attached spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will need to be sent to Shannon Connell every Friday at 9am. This will be done weekly through September 30th.

Attachment: Evacuee Weekly Reporting Sheet