2007 Minnesota Statutes

119B.16 FAIR HEARING PROCESS.
    Subdivision 1. Fair hearing allowed. An applicant or recipient adversely affected by a
county agency action may request a fair hearing in accordance with section 256.045.
    Subd. 1a. Fair hearing allowed for providers. (a) This subdivision applies to providers
caring for children receiving child care assistance.
(b) A provider to whom a county agency has assigned responsibility for an overpayment may
request a fair hearing in accordance with section 256.045 for the limited purpose of challenging
the assignment of responsibility for the overpayment and the amount of the overpayment. The
scope of the fair hearing does not include the issues of whether the provider wrongfully obtained
public assistance in violation of section 256.98 or was properly disqualified under section 256.98,
subdivision 8 , paragraph (c), unless the fair hearing has been combined with an administrative
disqualification hearing brought against the provider under section 256.046.
    Subd. 1b. Joint fair hearings. When a provider requests a fair hearing under subdivision 1a,
the family in whose case the overpayment was created must be made a party to the fair hearing. All
other issues raised by the family must be resolved in the same proceeding. When a family requests
a fair hearing and claims that the county should have assigned responsibility for an overpayment
to a provider, the provider must be made a party to the fair hearing. The referee assigned to a fair
hearing may join a family or a provider as a party to the fair hearing whenever joinder of that
party is necessary to fully and fairly resolve overpayment issues raised in the appeal.
    Subd. 2. Informal conference. The county agency shall offer an informal conference to
applicants and recipients adversely affected by an agency action to attempt to resolve the dispute.
The county agency shall offer an informal conference to providers to whom the county agency
has assigned responsibility for an overpayment in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The county
agency or the provider may ask the family in whose case the overpayment arose to participate
in the informal conference, but the family may refuse to do so. The county agency shall advise
adversely affected applicants, recipients, and providers that a request for a conference with the
agency is optional and does not delay or replace the right to a fair hearing.
History: 1987 c 403 art 3 s 73; 1988 c 689 art 2 s 230; 1997 c 162 art 4 s 42; 1Sp2003 c
14 art 9 s 25-27