Integrated Service Delivery - Candy Shively, Deputy Secretary (785) 296-3271
Economic and Employment Support - Bobbi Mariani, Director (785) 296-3349

MEMORANDUM

This memo provides implementation instructions and information for the following May 1, 2004 KEESM Changes:

• Paternity of Alleged Father in the Home - KEESM 2167
• Hardship for Persons Who Have Received 60 Months of Cash Assistance in Another    State - KEESM 2241 and 2243
• Time-Limited Assistance - KEESM 2240
• Mandatory SUA , Limited Utility Allowance and no proration of the SUA - KEESM    7227.1
• Employment Assessment Process - KEESM 3310.4(4)
• OARS - KEESM 3310.4 (11)
• TAF Participation Requirements - KEESM 3110
• Disability Employment Services - KEESM 3310.4 (3)
• TAF Only Work Related Exemption - KEESM 3220

CASH ASSISTANCE

Paternity of Alleged Father in the Home
[See Summary of Changes, item III, A. (1).] A birth certificate may be used to verify paternity for a child born on or after July 1, 1994. The birth certificate may not be used to verify paternity for children born prior to July 1, 1994. The narrative line on the referral to CSE, an e-mail message, or other locally-coordinated procedures can be used to notify CSE that paternity was verified by a birth certificate. Staff were instructed via a memo from EES Director Bobbi Mariani, dated February 20, 2004, to implement this practice immediately.

The above provision does not apply if either of the following conditions exist:

a. The mother was legally married to someone else at the time of the child’s birth; or
b. The mother was divorced (final decree issued) within the 300 days prior to the child’s birth.

In the two above situations, EES is to make a regular referral to CSE for paternity establishment. This paternity must be resolved by a court; expedited paternity is not applicable.

Hardship for Persons Who Have Received 60-Months of Cash Assistance in Another State

[See Summary of Changes, item III, A. (3)] A family applying for TAF cash assistance in Kansas who has already received 60-months of cash assistance in Kansas or another state or states may qualify for hardship in Kansas if they meet any of criteria 1-4 of KEESM Section 2243, which are age, disability, care of a disabled household member, and time to overcome the effects of domestic violence. This change is applicable to all applications processed on or after May 1, 2004. This includes applications filed prior to May 1 which are processed after May 1, 2004.

Note: The information which is currently in KEESM 2243 was inadvertently left out of the May revision. The information omitted is the guidelines to follow when an adult in hardship status fails to meet a work requirement. An Errata to the May revision is being issued. These guidelines will be included in the Errata. Until then, continue to follow the current policy when an individual in hardship status fails to meet a work requirement. Staff may want to print the current page of KEESM Section 2243 to refer to until the Errata is issued.

Time-Limited Assistance
[See Summary of Changes, item III, B (1)] A clarification has been added that months of cash assistance received by an adult while living on an Indian Reservation of at least 1,000 people with an unemployment rate among adults of at least 50 percent do not count toward the 60 month time limit. Currently, no Reservations in Kansas meet this criteria, but someone moving into Kansas who had lived on such a reservation could be affected by this rule. If staff become aware that a recipient has resided on such a reservation and has had those months of assistance counted toward the 60-month time limit, staff should correct the 60-month counter on MOCA.

FOOD ASSISTANCE

Mandatory Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) and Limited Standard Utility Allowance (LUA)
[See Summary of Changes, item V, A. (1).] Effective May 1, 2004 the SUA of $262 will be mandatory for households who have a heating or cooling expense. Households will no longer be allowed to claim actual utility expenses, with one minor exception. If the household does not have a heating or cooling expense, but has at least two other utility expenses, either water/sewer/garbage (if billed separately, counts as one expense), telephone or electricity (not used to heat or cool), the household must use the LUA of $168. If the household only incurs water/sewer/garbage (if billed separately counts as one expense) or electricity (not used to heat or cool) the household is not entitled to the SUA or LUA and must use actual expense(s). In addition to the above, effective May 1, the SUA will no longer be prorated when households share utility costs. Implementation of these changes will occur as follows:

Applications/Reviews - The policies described above must be applied to all applications and reviews received or processed on or after May 1, 2004. The policies may also be applied to the to the benefit month of May when processing an application/review on or after April 26.

Applications that are processed in April must follow prior policy for benefit months of April or earlier. As noted above, if benefits will be ongoing, the new policies may be applied to the benefit month of May on or after April 26. This will be easier for staff to implement and will result in less follow-up and handling of the case at a later date. Applications received in April, but processed in May will follow the new policies, even for month(s) prior to May.

Proration of the SUA - Food stamp programs active effective 4/23 with a prorated SUA will be automatically changed to the full SUA with rollover in April effective for the benefit month of June. This will be done by converting the value in the " # HH Sharing SUA" field on EXNS to an "01".

The SUA sharing field will then become a protected field for the benefit month of May, effective Monday April 26th. The system will not allow the SUA to be prorated for any processing done on or after that date for the benefit month of May - on applications or supplemental benefits done for the month of May. The system will automatically calculate FS benefits for May and beyond based on a non-shared SUA regardless of what displays on EXNS. If the field displays a number greater than 01, benefit amounts will be determined using the full SUA. Cases that may be impacted are those which are processed starting April 26, have a shared SUA in a month prior to 5/04; and have eligibility determined for a benefit month prior to 5/04. Since the "# HH Sharing" field is protected starting with the benefit month of May, the only way to change the value in that field for May is by entering through EXNS. When you return to EXNS, the system will reset the value to 01.

Ongoing Cases Using Actual Utility Expenses - A report will be generated around April 26 listing all active FS cases with actual utility expense codes on EXNS. The report will list the following codes: EL, GB, GS, OT, UI or WA. The sort will be alpha by client name and section/unit/caseload, with page breaks by caseload. The report will be available on SAR with the SAR ID of SWY01SUA-R01. Staff shall use this report to determine if the household is entitled to the SUA, LUA or only actual expenses. Cases must be changed as appropriate according to the new policies for the benefit month of June, 2004. A follow up printout will be produced in early June to determine if any cases remain coded with actual expenses that need the SUA or LUA coding. If a case has a decrease in benefits due to mandated use of the SUA or LUA, the following suggested wording shall be added to the notice:

"This change in benefits may also be due to a statewide change in policy. Effective May 1, 2004, food stamp households can no longer use actual utility expenses in determining the amount of food stamp benefits. Your food stamp benefits are now being determined using the Standard Utility Allowance of $262."

Application Forms - Application forms (including the on-line) ask consumers if they wish to use the SUA. This sentence will be removed from future versions of the applications as they are revised. Until that time, Areas can either mark through that question on paper versions of the application, or allow applicants to answer the question and if they answer "no" , staff will need to explain that use of the SUA became mandatory effective May 1, 2004. (We understand many paper applications are already at access points and cannot be modified.) A work request will be prepared to change the on-line application to remove that question, but, again, until that is done any requests for use of actual utility expenses will require an explanation that the policy has changed and these are no longer allowed.

ES-3103 - Income/Expense Worksheet - A box to check for the LUA has been added to the Utilities box on the bottom right hand corner of the form. This was not completed until after Revision 18 was finalized, so the corrected form will be issued via the Errata process. Staff will be notified when the corrected form is in the KEESM. The Quattro Pro version will also be corrected at that time and sent to field staff.

New Codes - The following codes have been added to the KAECSES code cards effective May 1, 2004:

• LU - Limited Utility Allowance - like the SU code, the amount of the allowance should not be included when using this code. The system will pull the correct amount from the utility standard table.

• WS - Water/Sewer/Trash - this new code has been added for use on EXNS when the household has one or multiple bills for these expenses (And is just entitled to actual expenses per policy). Enter the correct amount of actual expenses when using this code.

Notices - Special wording will be added to the mass change notice issued with rollover that will explain that the change in benefits might also be due to this policy change. In addition, the V004 - Landlord Letter, has been revised as a result of these changes to gather more specific information about shelter and utility expenses.

Examples - These examples should help illustrate this policy change-

Example 1: HH applies on 4/05/04. Requests actual utility expenses. Application is processed on 4/20. Actual expenses must be used when processing the application for the month of April. Since this case is processed before rollover, the case will be listed on the special report of cases using actual utility expenses and the case will need to be changed to either the SUA, LUA or one actual expense for the benefit month of June.

Example 2: HH applies on 4/20/04. Wants to use actual expenses and is entitled to the SUA. Application processed on May 5th. The SUA is now mandatory, and it would be allowed for the benefits months of April, May and ongoing.

Example 4: HH applies on 4/8/04. Entitled to the LUA of $168. Application is processed on May 4th. The LUA is allowed for April and May benefit months.

Example 5: HH applies on 4/10/04. Entitled to the SUA and shares utility expenses with another family. Application processed on 4/27. The SUA must be prorated for April. The SUA would not be prorated for May. Since this case was not active at the time of rollover (to benefit from the automated processing), the benefit month of May is approved using the new policy on 4/27.

Example 6: Ongoing case with prorated SUA. "# HH Sharing SUA" field is coded with an "03". Rollover runs and the "# HH Sharing SUA" field is converted to an "01" for the benefit month of June 04. Information requested is provided and supplemental benefits for May are authorized on May 3rd due to an additional household member. When EXNS is accessed for May the "# HH Sharing SUA" field will be coded with an "03" and it will be locked. After entering through EXNS, the field is changed to "01", and the May supplemental benefits will be calculated using the full SUA. June’s benefits will also be calculated with the full SUA.

WORK PROGRAMS

Changes Necessary to Meet Federal Participation After Loss of TANF Waiver

The majority of work program changes in KEESM Revision 18 were issued in Policy Memo 03-12-03 which also contained the implementation instructions for those changes. Policy Memo 03-12-03 will be obsolete effective May 1, 2004. The previously issued instructions with additional clarifications include:

Applicants
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. A. (1).] All TAF applications received after January 1, 2004, will start the EAP process beginning with the date of the TAF application unless exempt from work program requirements or victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Job Search /Job Readiness Components
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. A. (2).] In order to meet federal work participation requirements placed on the state without the TANF waiver, between January 1 and June 30, 2004 staff will review the self sufficiency plan with each TAF participant in the following activities and modify the plan appropriately: Individual Job Search (IND), Physical Health Care (PHC), Job Readiness Case Management (JCM), Group Job Search (GRP), Social Security Applicants (SSA), Employment Related Workshops (ERW), Mental Health Care (MHC), Applicant Job Search (AJS), and Children and Family Services (CFS). The monthly Prospective TAF Participation Listing provided by central office may be used to aid in this process. Clients who are working on these barriers as part of the ongoing assessment process will be placed in the Employment Assessment Process (EAP) component.

Employment Assessment Process
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. A. (4).]

• For two-parent families: In order to meet the more stringent federal work participation requirement placed on the state for two-parent families, case managers will review self-sufficiency plans of all two-parent cases. By January 31, 2004, these cases with parents currently in the following assignments were to have been modified to show each parent in EAP for 30 hours per week with a start date of December 1, 2003: Individual Job Search (IND); Physical Health Care (PHC); Job Readiness Case Management (JCM); Group Job Search (GRP); Social Security Applicant (SSA); Employment Related Workshops (ERW); Mental Health Care (MHC); Applicant Job Search (AJS); and Children and Family Services (CFS).
  
• For one-parent families: In order to meet the federal work participation requirements placed on the state, case managers will review self-sufficiency plans with all one-parent families between January 1 and June 30, 2004 and modify the plans appropriately.

Each area’s or region’s plan for monitoring EAP were to have been developed by March 31, 2004 and reviewed/updated as needed. There is currently no federal requirement that community service assignments be monitored. However, when TANF is reauthorized, there may be a requirement that community service assignments are supervised.

Orientation, Assessment, Referral, Safety (OARS)
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. A. (5).] Between January 1 and June 30 2004 staff will review the self sufficiency plans for all TAF recipients in the OAR component and modify the OAR component assignment to "0" scheduled hours per week. Coding clients in "0" hours will not negatively impact the state’s federal work participation rate as the state may be excused from meeting the required participation rate if the state demonstrates that it meets the rates if domestic violence cases are removed from the calculation.

The TANF report has been modified to identify OARS recipients. These individuals now show as "OARS" in the "alert" column. If the client fails to meet participation, there will be a "0" in the "meet" column instead of an "F". An OARS column that tallies the number of OARS cases that failed participation has also been added to the summary portion of the report. A "0" still counts as failing participation, but this column allows management to give a worker credit for any OARS case that failed.

TAF Participation Requirements
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. B. (1).] The federal TANF data report already gives full work participation credit to one-parent families with a child under age six who are engaged in work or work activities for at least 20 hours per week. Some one-parent TAF families with children under age 6 may currently be assigned to work program activities that exceed 20 hours per week. As EES staff complete work program progress reviews between January 1 and June 30, 2004 for these one- parent families with a child under age 6, consideration should be given to whether an assignment of over 20 hours per week is appropriate for the individual case situation. No change is required if plans over 20 hours per week continue to be appropriate.

Disability Employment Services
[See Summary of Changes, item VII. A. (3).] The EES and RS Coordination Team’s recommendations on improved integration of services and efficiencies for both consumers and staff were incorporated in KEESM 3310.4(3), revised forms ES 4308 and ES 4315, and KEESM Appendix Items 113, 114, 115, and 116. We encourage EES and RS staff to meet locally to determine if use of these strategies and forms would enhance collaboration and integration of services.
Use of the revised ES 4308 and ES 4315 begins with referrals on or after May 1, 2004.
Note: The accessible format version of these forms and Appendix items will be issued in an Errata to KEESM Revision 18. The ES 4308 and ES 4315 will also be retitled to the IS 4308 and IS 4315 to reflect the integrated utilization of the these forms.

TAF Only Work Related Exemption
[See Summary of Change, item VII. B. (2).] Clarification of the use of the child under age one exemption was incorporated into this revision. This clarification may represent a change for some staff. Work related exemptions should be monitored at the next eligibility review to assure the exemption is consistent with the current interpretation.

If you have any questions about this material, please forward TAF cash assistance questions to Diane Dykstra, food assistance questions to Pam Jacob and work programs questions to Paula Gibson.

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