FOOD STAMP MANUAL REVISION #14:

Section 1110.020.10 pages 1110-4-6
Section 1110.020.30 pages 1110-11-12a

1110.020.10  Vehicles

FNS asked us to clarify that both the market and equity value are excluded when a vehicle is used for one of the purposes listed under item #1.  We have added this to the first sentence of item #1.

When we put the manual on-line, we failed to list as excluded a vehicle necessary to carry the primary source of fuel for heating or water for home use.  This is added as item f under item #1.

1110.020.30 Governmental Payments

Item #1 under this section is the Earned Income Credit (EIC) exclusion.  We are clarifying that EIC is always excluded from resources in the month it is received and the following month.  It is excluded up to 12 months if the household member who receives the payment (1) was a food stamp participant at the time the payment was received and (2) participates in the Food Stamp Program continuously for the 12 months of the exclusion.

Item #2, the Energy Assistance exclusion, is revised to reflect the language of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

Item #4 is revised to exclude the value of the School Lunch Program as well as the School Breakfast Program.

Added to item #8 is the exclusion of educational assistance provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

We have added three additional governmental payment exclusions.  They are: 

• Allowances paid to children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spinal bifida;
• Payments to persons because of their status as victims of Nazi persecution; and
• Payments made under a crime victim compensation program.

• Review the policy revisions with staff.

 
• File the attached hard copy of the revised manual pages in the hard copy of the Food Stamp Manual.

11. legal restrictions.

The home and surrounding property (regardless of the number of lots or acres) furnishing primary shelter for the household is exempt.

 1. Consider property as adjoining even though a road may run through the surrounding property and separate it from the home.

 2. Do not consider property as adjoining if it is separated from the home by intervening property owned by others.

 3. This exemption applies even when the property is temporarily unoccupied for reasons of employment, training for future employment, illness, or rendered uninhabitable due to casualty or a natural disaster, if the household intends to return.  Intent to return to the residence is established by the applicant's statement.  Further verification is required only if the applicant's statement is inconsistent with previous statements made by the applicant, information on the application or previous applications, or other information known to DFS.  Use the following criteria to determine the applicant's intent to return.

  a. The applicant's statement regarding the reason for absence, intent to return, and living arrangement made in new or same project area.

  b. Any applicant statements to other persons in the community (collaterals designated by the applicant).

  c. Arrangements made, if any, for the disposition of the home, furniture, and household goods.

  d. Medical reports if the absence is due to illness.

 4. Households that currently do not own a home, but own or are purchasing a lot on which to build or are building a permanent home, receive an exclusion for the value of the lot and, if it is partially completed, for the home. 

Count the equity value of any unlicensed vehicle as a resource.  Exclude or count the value of licensed vehicles as a resource as follows.

 1. Exclude the entire market and equity value of any licensed vehicle if the vehicle is:

  a. used primarily (over 50 percent of the time) for income producing purposes, such as, but not limited to, a taxi, truck, or fishing boat;

   EXAMPLE:  John Jones owns a car used as a taxi seven  months out of the year.  The vehicle is an exempt resource because it is in use more than 50 percent of the time.

  b. annually producing gross income consistent with its fair market value, even if used only on a seasonal basis;

   EXAMPLE:  Jean Riley owns a boat used for recreation and rented occasionally during the summer months.  It has potential for producing annual income of $1,200.  Mr. Riley earns $400 annually renting the boat.  This is not an exempt resource because the boat is not producing income consistent with its annual income potential.

  c. necessary for long distance travel, other than daily commuting, essential to the employment of a household member, such as the vehicle of a traveling sales person or a migrant farm worker following the work stream;

  d. used as the household's home; or

  e. necessary to transport a physically disabled household member (or ineligible immigrant or disqualified person whose resources are considered available to the household) regardless of the purpose of such transportation (limited to one vehicle per physically disabled household member).  A vehicle necessary to transport a physically disabled household member need not have special equipment or be used primarily by the physically disabled household member, but document why/how this particular vehicle meets the needs of the disabled member.

   EXAMPLE:  Mrs. T. has crippling arthritis, uses a walker, and requires a vehicle with more leg room and a place to carry the walker.

   This exclusion applies even when the vehicle is not in use due to temporary unemployment and includes unlicensed vehicles on Indian reservations that do not require vehicles driven by tribal members to be licensed.

  f. Necessary to carry the primary source of fuel for heating or water for home use.  Exclude the vehicles without question, if the household does not have heating fuel or water piped into its home.

 2. Consider licensed vehicles that do not meet an exclusion a resource.  For the following licensed vehicles, count that portion of the vehicle's fair market value exceeding

    $4,500 effective 1977 through 08-31-94
    $4,550 effective 09-01-94 through 09-30-95
    $4,600 effective 10-01-95 through 09-30-96
    $4,650 effective 10-01-96

  toward the household's resource level.  Do not compute or consider the equity for these vehicles in the resource determination:

  a. one licensed vehicle per household, regardless of the vehicle's use;

   EXAMPLE:  The Smith family owns two vehicles.  The entire family uses one vehicle for general transportation.  It has a fair market value of $5,000 and an equity value of $1,000.  That portion of the fair market value over the $4,650 limit, or $350, is considered a resource.  The equity is not considered.

  b. any other licensed vehicles used to transport household members or an ineligible alien or disqualified person whose resources are considered available to the household to seek or maintain employment or to obtain training or education preparatory to employment (exempt equity of a vehicle customarily used to commute to and from employment even during temporary periods of unemployment).

   EXAMPLE:  Mr. Smith uses the other vehicle owned by the family to transport him to and from his job.  It has a fair market value of $3,500 and an equity value of $2,000.  The equity is exempt and the fair market value of the vehicle is under $4,650, therefore, no portion of the vehicle's value is considered a resource.

 3. Individually evaluate all other non-excluded licensed vehicles to determine equity and fair market value.  Compare that portion of the vehicle's fair market value exceeding the vehicle deduction ($4,650 effective 10-
01-96) to its equity value (determine equity value by subtracting the amount of encumbrances from the fair market value).  Count only the greater of the two amounts as a resource.

 If the household states that the grain is not expected to remain in storage for more than 12 months, do not consider the grain a resource.  The household may not be able to give information on how long it is expected to remain in storage.  If the household is unsure of storage time, do not consider the grain a resource until 12 months have elapsed since the grain was stored.

 EXAMPLE:  Farmer Joe Green stated he is holding half of his crop off the market to obtain a better price.  He is holding the other half to feed his animals.  That half of his crop held to drive the market price up is an exempt resource for 12 months.  If the grain is stored for more than 12 months, it is a resource.  The other half is exempt as it is being held to feed the animals.

1110.020.30      Governmental Payments
IM-#64  May 21, 1999

1. Exclude the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC) in the month received and the following month.

 Exclude EIC payments for 12 months when received by any household member meeting both of the following:  1)  was a food stamp participant at the time the payment was received and 2)  participates in the Food Stamp program continuously for the 12 months of the exclusion period.  Participation is considered continuous at recertification unless there is a break of more than one calendar month between the last month the member received benefits and the date of reapplication.  If the member does not continuously participate, count the remaining EIC payment as a resource when the member reapplies.

2. Exclude Federal energy assistance payments or allowances and Federal or State one-time assistance for weatherization or emergency repair or replacement of heating or cooling devices.  These payments or allowances must be clearly identified as energy assistance by the legislative body authorizing the program or providing the funds.  Excluded federal payments include energy assistance provided through the Department of Health and Human Services, Low Income Energy Assistance and Crisis Intervention Programs.

3. WIC program payments or benefits to participating persons (Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children).

4. School Breakfast and Lunch Program:  the value of Assistance to Children under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the National School Lunch Program.

5. Any governmental payments designated for restoring a home damaged in a disaster, if the household is subject to legal sanction if

 the funds are not used as intended, such as those made by the Individual and Family Grant Program or certain Small Business Administration loans.

6. Individual and Family Grant assistance received under Section 408 of the Disaster Relief Act and Emergency Assistance amendments of 1988.  Also, comparable payments made by state and local governments or disaster assistance organizations.

7. When the Secretary of Agriculture declares a farm emergency due to a natural disaster, any payments made under P.L. 100-
387 to farmers following such a declaration.

8. Educational assistance provided under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

9. Mandatory deductions from military pay for educational purposes while the participant is enlisted.  (P.L. 99-576)

10. PASS Program:  funds SSI recipients set aside under an approved plan for achieving self-support.  SSA must approve the written plan.

11. Payments received from the Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects, the Youth Community Conservation and Improvement Projects, and the Youth Employment and Training Programs under the Youth Employment and Demonstration Project Act of 1977.  This does not include payments from the Young Adults Conservation Corps or the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).

12. Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970.

13. Wartime Relocation of Civilians payments authorized by Public Law 100-383.

14. Agent Orange Settlement Payments from the Aetna insurance company.

15. Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of October 15, 1990, [P.L. 101-425, Section (h)(2)] payments.

16. Money placed in escrow under the HUD Family Self-sufficiency Program.  Consider the money plus interest earned as totally unavailable to the household.  Participants in this program have an economic independence contract with HUD.

17. Resources verified as belonging to an individual receiving cash assistance under Temporary Assistance, SSI, SP or SAB.  Exclude these resources from the household's total resources.  If resources are jointly held with a non-
categorically eligible household member, count in total resources only that portion

 contributed by the non-categorically eligible member.

18. Allowances paid to children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spinal bifida.

19. Payments to persons because of their status as victims of Nazi persecution.

20. Payments made under a crime victim compensation program.