SNAP Policy 430-05
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SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 SNAP Policy 430-05 General Information 430-05-05 History of SNAP 430-05-05-05 (Revised 01/01/04 ML2893) View Archives In 1935, Congress authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to use custom receipts to buy food for welfare institutions. These funds were known as Section 32 funds. In 1946, Congress established the Commodity Distribution Program. Surplus foods from the price support program or Section 32 were made available for institutions and welfare programs. Under the Kennedy administration, the Food Stamp Program began as a pilot program in 1961. The program became law in 1964 and was designed to increase the food buying power of low-income families. While the federal government established the program, the states and local governing bodies administered it. In North Dakota, the counties administered the program through their welfare boards and employees. Maximum incomes were set by a plan prepared by the Public Welfare Board of North Dakota with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a part of the plan, a series of charts were developed to show how many bonus stamps could be issued for various levels of net income for various sized families. Thus, with a monthly net income of $0 to $19.99, a family of four in 1969 could spend $2.00 for stamps and receive $58.00 in bonus stamps for a total of $60.00. The purchase price was not eliminated from the program until December of 1979. _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 During 1970, North Dakota had 41 counties participating in the Food Stamp Program, five counties with no program and seven counties who issued surplus commodities. It was not until July 1, 1974, that all counties in North Dakota were mandated to participate in the Food Stamp Program. The program was totally automated in October of 1984 and today serves approximately 17,500 households statewide with a total dollar issuance of approximately 3.1 million dollars per month as compared to January of 1979 when $504,520.00 dollars were issued to 6,021 households. In February 1996, the State of North Dakota and South Dakota joined together to form the Dakota Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Program which is the first joint State EBT Program in the nation. A unique aspect of the Dakota EBT Program is that the Dakota EBT cards can be used in both North Dakota and South Dakota. Electronic Benefits Transfer is an on-line computer-based system in which the benefit authorization is received from a central computer through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Eligible households utilize magnetic stripe plastic cards and have accounts maintained at the central computer instead of using food stamp coupons to purchase food items at authorized food retailers. Once certified, the household’s benefits are electronically loaded into a central computer account for each month during the certification period. Checkout lanes at authorized food retailers are equipped with POS terminals. When the transaction occurs, the POS terminals connect on-line to the central computer database; verify the validity of the personal identification number (PIN), card number, and the amount of available benefits in an EBT account; obtain authorization for each purchase; and initiate the debiting of the household’s account and the crediting of the retailer’s account. _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 Authority 430-05-05-10 (Revised 01/01/04 ML2893) View Archives SNAP is authorized by Public Law 95-113, the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, and its various amendments. It is administered by county social service offices under the authority of Section 50-01- 09 of the North Dakota Century Code, and supervised by the North Dakota Department of Human Services under North Dakota Century Code Section 50-06-05.1. _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 Purpose of SNAP 430-05-05-15 (Revised 01/01/04 ML2893) View Archives SNAP is a uniform nationwide program intended to promote the general welfare and safeguard the health and well being of the nation's population by raising the levels of nutrition among low- income households. This manual contains certification procedures used for determining program eligibility and level of benefit. _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 Administration 430-05-05-20 (Revised 01/01/04 ML2893) View Archives SNAP is administered at the county level by county social service offices in accordance with procedures issued by the North Dakota Department of Human Services based on federal law, federal regulations and instructions prescribed by the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 State Responsibilities 430-05-05-20-05 (Revised 06/01/09 ML3182) View Archives State responsibilities include supervision of certification, issuance and outreach activities, maintenance of Quality Control, quality assurance, a complaint procedures system, statewide fiscal accountability, settlement of claims resulting from fraud and non- fraud claims, and developing, conducting and evaluating statewide training. Disaster SNAP The State Emergency SNAP Plan of Operation must be followed when there is a presidentially declared disaster. The State Office will issue instructions. Training The State Office is responsible to institute a continuing training program for workers, supervisors, fair hearing officials, and performance reporting system reviewers. The county is responsible to ensure staff attend training sessions. North Dakota's open-meeting law and Federal regulations permit attendance of non-employees at training sessions. The role of public participants must be limited to observation only. Quality Assurance Coordinator The State Office is required by federal regulations to establish a continuing performance reporting system to monitor program administration and program operations. The components of the system must provide for: _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 • Data collection through Quality Control reviews and quality improvement reviews (QIR). • Analysis of data collected by Quality Control and QIR and all other management information sources. • Corrective action planning. • Corrective action implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. • Reporting to FNS on program performance. QIR SNAP regulations mandate that the State Office conduct a QIR of all counties. The reviews determine if the counties are administering and operating SNAP in accordance with program requirements contained in the State Certification Manual and the State Issuance Manual. The review must include an examination of random selected casefiles, personnel, training, certification procedures, client services (outreach), reporting/record keeping, security/control, issuance procedures and a physical inventory and reconciliation of EBT cards. The results of this review assist counties in improving and strengthening the administration and operation of SNAP. The QIR must provide data on how the program is being administered at the local level and identify those areas that are deficient. The county should use the results of the QIR as a basis for corrective action. Corrective Action Planning The objectives of corrective action planning are to develop appropriate measures to correct SNAP deficiencies based upon the results of data analysis performed by the Quality Assurance Coordinator. The State is responsible for the development of two types of corrective action: _____________________________________________________ North Dakota Department of Human Services SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POLICY Division 10 Service 430 Program 430 Chapter 05 • Remedial involves rectifying past errors in individual cases. • Preventative involves correcting patterns of deficiencies. Corrective action plans are monitored by county and state personnel to determine if they are completed in a timely manner. FNS requires identification of counties that are not administering SNAP regulations correctly and require the State Office to initiate corrective action. Quality Control A Quality Control system has been established to comply with federal regulations. This system documents the number of and reasons for errors in eligibility and issuance of participating households. Counties are required to correct case errors cited by Quality Control. A review is a statistically random sample of active and negative cases to determine if households are receiving correct SNAP benefits and if cases are denied or closed correctly. Cases reviewed by Quality Control are randomly selected. Matching random digits against the last four