11270 Electronic Disqualified Recipient System (eDRS) (Food Assistance Program Only) - The eDRS is a nationwide database of individuals that have had fraud disqualifications for the Food Assistance Program. The eDRS is available with the purpose of checking for prior disqualifications as noted in 1434 and 11250 (7). See KEES user manual for more information regarding the process.
If a match is found for a Kansas applicant or recipient, a secondary verification must be completed per the Computer Matching Privacy and Protection Act as described in 1434. Each State agency has a Locality Contact for these Secondary Verifications. The Locality Contact for Kansas is in EES Administration. The EBT unit is the Locality Contact, and if they are contacted by another state for secondary verification, a contact with local office staff will be needed to access the case file and copy items to substantiate the disqualification. The list of possible verification items is listed in 1434. It is important that staff respond timely on these requests as State agencies have 20 working days to respond on Secondary Verifications.
NOTE: If there is a disqualified individual receiving Food Assistance in KS, then EES Administration is responsible for reporting to the eDRS information concerning individuals disqualified for fraud, including those individuals disqualified based on a the determination of an ADH, or a court of appropriate jurisdiction and those individuals disqualified as a result of signing either a waiver of right to a disqualification hearing or a disqualification consent agreement in cases referred for prosecution. This is done via the Food Assistance Disqualified Recipient Report, ES-524, thus it is very important that these forms are returned timely as noted below. Staff must also complete ES-524's for persons found guilty for 10 years in accordance with 11221(3), and for transactions involving the sale of a controlled substance or firearms per 11221(2). Once the individual has been permanently disqualified, ES-524's for subsequent findings of fraud are not necessary.
The completed ES-524 shall be emailed to EES Administration at EBTMAIL@ks.gov within 20 days of the date the disqualification took effect. The original shall be kept in the case file.
Completion of the form is for the most part self-explanatory. Special instructions include the following:
Item 9, Disqualification Decision Date: For an ADH, enter the date on the guilty decision found directly under the case number. For court cases, enter the date of the journal entry, or the date the individual signed the Disqualification Consent Agreement.
Item 11, County Where Case File is Located: Enter name of county where the case file is currently located. This information is important should the individual leave the state and another state needs documentation of the number of frauds in Kansas, or any other pertinent information.
Item 12, Remarks: Enter any additional information on this section and explain.
11280 Fraud Overpayment Recovery - The remaining household members, if any, shall begin repayment during the period of disqualification imposed by the court or the ADHO. For food assistance, the local agency shall send a written repayment agreement, even if a restitution agreement has already been established by a court or Fraud Unit staff. (A special form, the F835, is available to use in these situations. This notice is important as it notifies the household that failure to repay may result in the use of other collection methods such as TOP and debt–set off, and is required by USDA regulations.) The repayment agreement shall inform the remaining household members of:
The amount owed;
The period of time the overpayment covers;
The repayment methods that are available; and
That additional methods of collections may be used (such as garnishment and debt set-off). Additional TOP Offset can be used for food assistance.
The household shall have 10 days from the date the notice is mailed to return the completed repayment agreement. If the household fails to return the completed repayment agreement in the time allotted, benefit reduction shall be imposed in accordance with 11126.1 (4), if repayment is not otherwise established by a court or with the Fraud Unit. In addition, if the household agrees to make repayment but fails to do so, benefit reduction shall be automatically imposed. All actions to invoke benefit reduction when a household has not been making agreed upon repayments must be coordinated with local Fraud Unit staff. If benefit reduction is invoked, adequate notice only is required. See 1432 (17).
All repayments shall be made in accordance with established procedures in 11126.1 for cash repayment, monthly installments or benefit reduction.
11290 Reversed Disqualifications - In cases where the determination of fraud is reversed by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, the individual shall be reinstated if otherwise eligible. An underpayment shall promptly be made for any assistance which was lost as a result of the disqualification. If the disqualification has been entered into eDRS, the record of the disqualification will be removed.