2006 Minnesota Statutes

256D.06 AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.
    Subdivision 1. Eligibility; amount of assistance. General assistance shall be granted in an
amount that when added to the nonexempt income actually available to the assistance unit, the
total amount equals the applicable standard of assistance for general assistance. In determining
eligibility for and the amount of assistance for an individual or married couple, the county agency
shall disregard the first $50 of earned income per month.
    Subd. 1a.[Repealed, 1983 c 312 art 8 s 17]
    Subd. 1b. Earned income savings account. In addition to the $50 disregard required under
subdivision 1, the county agency shall disregard an additional earned income up to a maximum
of $150 per month for: (1) persons residing in facilities licensed under Minnesota Rules, parts
9520.0500 to 9520.0690 and 9530.2500 to 9530.4000, and for whom discharge and work are part
of a treatment plan; (2) persons living in supervised apartments with services funded under
Minnesota Rules, parts 9535.0100 to 9535.1600, and for whom discharge and work are part of
a treatment plan; and (3) persons residing in group residential housing, as that term is defined
in section 256I.03, subdivision 3, for whom the county agency has approved a discharge plan
which includes work. The additional amount disregarded must be placed in a separate savings
account by the eligible individual, to be used upon discharge from the residential facility into
the community. For individuals residing in a chemical dependency program licensed under
Minnesota Rules, part 9530.4100, subpart 22, item D, withdrawals from the savings account
require the signature of the individual and for those individuals with an authorized representative
payee, the signature of the payee. A maximum of $1,000, including interest, of the money in the
savings account must be excluded from the resource limits established by section 256D.08,
subdivision 1 , clause (1). Amounts in that account in excess of $1,000 must be applied to the
resident's cost of care. If excluded money is removed from the savings account by the eligible
individual at any time before the individual is discharged from the facility into the community, the
money is income to the individual in the month of receipt and a resource in subsequent months.
If an eligible individual moves from a community facility to an inpatient hospital setting, the
separate savings account is an excluded asset for up to 18 months. During that time, amounts
that accumulate in excess of the $1,000 savings limit must be applied to the patient's cost of care.
If the patient continues to be hospitalized at the conclusion of the 18-month period, the entire
account must be applied to the patient's cost of care.
    Subd. 1c.[Repealed, 1990 c 568 art 4 s 85]
    Subd. 2. Emergency need. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision 1, a grant of
emergency general assistance shall, to the extent funds are available, be made to an eligible single
adult, married couple, or family for an emergency need, as defined in rules promulgated by the
commissioner, where the recipient requests temporary assistance not exceeding 30 days if an
emergency situation appears to exist and the individual or family is ineligible for MFIP or DWP
or is not a participant of MFIP or DWP. If an applicant or recipient relates facts to the county
agency which may be sufficient to constitute an emergency situation, the county agency shall,
to the extent funds are available, advise the person of the procedure for applying for assistance
according to this subdivision. An emergency general assistance grant is available to a recipient
not more than once in any 12-month period. Funding for an emergency general assistance
program is limited to the appropriation. Each fiscal year, the commissioner shall allocate to
counties the money appropriated for emergency general assistance grants based on each county
agency's average share of state's emergency general expenditures for the immediate past three
fiscal years as determined by the commissioner, and may reallocate any unspent amounts to other
counties. Any emergency general assistance expenditures by a county above the amount of the
commissioner's allocation to the county must be made from county funds.
    Subd. 3.[Repealed, 1989 c 282 art 5 s 133; 1Sp1989 c 1 art 16 s 20]
    Subd. 4.[Repealed, 1989 c 282 art 5 s 133; 1Sp1989 c 1 art 16 s 20]
    Subd. 5. Eligibility; requirements. (a) Any applicant, otherwise eligible for general
assistance and possibly eligible for maintenance benefits from any other source shall (1) make
application for those benefits within 30 days of the general assistance application; and (2) execute
an interim assistance agreement on a form as directed by the commissioner.
(b) The commissioner shall review a denial of an application for other maintenance benefits
and may require a recipient of general assistance to file an appeal of the denial if appropriate.
If found eligible for benefits from other sources, and a payment received from another source
relates to the period during which general assistance was also being received, the recipient shall
be required to reimburse the county agency for the interim assistance paid. Reimbursement
shall not exceed the amount of general assistance paid during the time period to which the other
maintenance benefits apply and shall not exceed the state standard applicable to that time period.
(c) The commissioner may contract with the county agencies, qualified agencies,
organizations, or persons to provide advocacy and support services to process claims for
federal disability benefits for applicants or recipients of services or benefits supervised by the
commissioner using money retained under this section.
(d) The commissioner may provide methods by which county agencies shall identify, refer,
and assist recipients who may be eligible for benefits under federal programs for the disabled.
(e) The total amount of interim assistance recoveries retained under this section for advocacy,
support, and claim processing services shall not exceed 35 percent of the interim assistance
recoveries in the prior fiscal year.
    Subd. 6.[Repealed, 1989 c 282 art 5 s 133; 1Sp1989 c 1 art 16 s 20]
    Subd. 7. SSI conversions and back claims. (a) SSI conversions. The commissioner of
human services shall contract with agencies or organizations capable of ensuring that clients who
are presently receiving assistance under sections 256D.01 to 256D.21, and who may be eligible
for benefits under the federal Supplemental Security Income program, apply and, when eligible,
are converted to the federal income assistance program and made eligible for health care benefits
under the medical assistance program. The commissioner shall ensure that money owing to the
state under interim assistance agreements is collected.
(b) Back claims for federal health care benefits. The commissioner shall also directly or
through contract implement procedures for collecting federal Medicare and medical assistance
funds for which clients converted to SSI are retroactively eligible.
(c) Additional requirements. The commissioner shall contract with agencies to ensure
implementation of this section. County contracts with providers for residential services shall
include the requirement that providers screen residents who may be eligible for federal benefits
and provide that information to the local agency. The commissioner shall modify the MAXIS
computer system to provide information on clients who have been on general assistance for
two years or longer. The list of clients shall be provided to local services for screening under
this section.
    Subd. 8. Recovery of ATM errors. For recipients receiving benefits via electronic benefit
transfer, if the recipient is overpaid as a result of an automated teller machine (ATM) dispensing
funds in error to the recipient, the agency may recover the ATM error by immediately withdrawing
funds from the recipient's electronic benefit transfer account, up to the amount of the error.
History: 1973 c 650 art 21 s 6; 1977 c 301 s 4; 1980 c 536 s 12,13; 1980 c 614 s 131; 1981
c 360 art 2 s 37,38; 1983 c 312 art 8 s 7; 1984 c 640 s 32; 1984 c 641 s 25; 1984 c 654 art 5 s 31;
1985 c 252 s 25; 1987 c 403 art 3 s 38-40; 1988 c 689 art 2 s 189-191; 1990 c 568 art 4 s 32,84;
1991 c 292 art 4 s 70; 1992 c 406 s 1; 1992 c 513 art 8 s 21,22; 1994 c 465 art 1 s 30; 1995 c
233 art 2 s 56; 1996 c 465 art 3 s 36; 1997 c 85 art 3 s 43; 1999 c 245 art 6 s 4; 1Sp2001 c 9
art 10 s 66; 1Sp2003 c 14 art 1 s 3; 1Sp2005 c 4 art 3 s 11,12