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Chapter 256D

Section 256D.02

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256D.02 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Scope. For purposes of sections 256D.01 to 256D.21, the terms defined in
this section have the meanings given them unless otherwise provided or indicated by the context.
    Subd. 2. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of human services or a
designee.
    Subd. 3. Department. "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
    Subd. 4. General assistance. "General assistance" means cash payments to persons unable
to provide themselves with a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health and who
are not otherwise provided for under the laws of this state or the United States.
    Subd. 4a. General assistance medical care. "General assistance medical care" means
payment of all or part of the cost of medical care and services approved by the commissioner
pursuant to section 256D.03, subdivision 3, for individuals whose income and resources are
insufficient to meet the cost of care.
    Subd. 5.[Repealed, 1997 c 85 art 3 s 56]
    Subd. 6. Child. "Child" means an adult child, a person who qualifies for assistance under
section 256D.05, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clause (10), or until March 31, 1998, the minor
child of an individual.
    Subd. 7. Childless couple. "Childless couple" means two individuals who are married to
each other, live in a place of residence maintained by them as their own home, and are either
childless or living apart from their children.
    Subd. 8. Income. "Income" means any form of income, including remuneration for services
performed as an employee and net earnings from self-employment, reduced by the amount
attributable to employment expenses as defined by the commissioner. The amount attributable
to employment expenses shall include amounts paid or withheld for federal and state personal
income taxes and federal Social Security taxes.
Income includes any payments received as an annuity, retirement, or disability benefit,
including veteran's or workers' compensation; old age, survivors, and disability insurance;
railroad retirement benefits; unemployment benefits; and benefits under any federally aided
categorical assistance program, supplementary security income, or other assistance program;
rents, dividends, interest and royalties; and support and maintenance payments. Such payments
may not be considered as available to meet the needs of any person other than the person for
whose benefit they are received, unless that person is a family member or a spouse and the income
is not excluded under section 256D.01, subdivision 1a. Goods and services provided in lieu of
cash payment shall be excluded from the definition of income, except that payments made for
room, board, tuition or fees by a parent, on behalf of a child enrolled as a full-time student in a
postsecondary institution, and payments made on behalf of an applicant or recipient which the
applicant or recipient could legally demand to receive personally in cash, must be included as
income. Benefits of an applicant or recipient, such as those administered by the Social Security
Administration, that are paid to a representative payee, and are spent on behalf of the applicant or
recipient, are considered available income of the applicant or recipient.
    Subd. 8a.[Repealed, 1983 c 312 art 8 s 18; 1Sp1985 c 14 art 9 s 78 subd 1]
    Subd. 9.[Repealed, 1981 c 360 art 2 s 52]
    Subd. 10.[Repealed, 1981 c 360 art 2 s 52]
    Subd. 11. State aid. "State aid" means state aid to county agencies for general assistance and
general assistance medical care expenditures as provided for in section 256D.03, subdivisions 2
and 3
.
    Subd. 12. County agency. "County agency" means the agency designated by the county
board of commissioners, human services boards, local social services agencies in the several
counties of the state or multicounty local social services agencies or departments where those
have been established in accordance with law.
    Subd. 12a. Resident. (a) For purposes of eligibility for general assistance and general
assistance medical care, a person must be a resident of this state.
(b) A "resident" is a person living in the state for at least 30 days with the intention of
making the person's home here and not for any temporary purpose. Time spent in a shelter for
battered women shall count toward satisfying the 30-day residency requirement. All applicants
for these programs are required to demonstrate the requisite intent and can do so in any of the
following ways:
(1) by showing that the applicant maintains a residence at a verified address, other than a
place of public accommodation. An applicant may verify a residence address by presenting
a valid state driver's license, a state identification card, a voter registration card, a rent receipt,
a statement by the landlord, apartment manager, or homeowner verifying that the individual is
residing at the address, or other form of verification approved by the commissioner; or
(2) by verifying residence according to Minnesota Rules, part 9500.1219, subpart 3, item C.
(c) For general assistance medical care, a county agency shall waive the 30-day residency
requirement in cases of medical emergencies. For general assistance, a county shall waive the
30-day residency requirement where unusual hardship would result from denial of general
assistance. For purposes of this subdivision, "unusual hardship" means the applicant is without
shelter or is without available resources for food.
The county agency must report to the commissioner within 30 days on any waiver granted
under this section. The county shall not deny an application solely because the applicant does not
meet at least one of the criteria in this subdivision, but shall continue to process the application
and leave the application pending until the residency requirement is met or until eligibility or
ineligibility is established.
(d) For purposes of paragraph (c), the following definitions apply (1) "metropolitan statistical
area" is as defined by the United States Census Bureau; (2) "shelter" includes any shelter that is
located within the metropolitan statistical area containing the county and for which the applicant
is eligible, provided the applicant does not have to travel more than 20 miles to reach the shelter
and has access to transportation to the shelter. Clause (2) does not apply to counties in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan statistical area.
(e) Migrant workers as defined in section 256J.08 and, until March 31, 1998, their immediate
families are exempt from the residency requirements of this section, provided the migrant worker
provides verification that the migrant family worked in this state within the last 12 months and
earned at least $1,000 in gross wages during the time the migrant worker worked in this state.
(f) For purposes of eligibility for emergency general assistance, the 30-day residency
requirement under this section shall not be waived.
(g) If any provision of this subdivision is enjoined from implementation or found
unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain
valid and shall be given full effect.
    Subd. 13. Suitable employment. "Suitable employment" means an appropriate income
producing job including, but not limited to, all publicly subsidized jobs procured through the
services administered by or coordinated with the commissioner of employment and economic
development.
    Subd. 14.[Repealed, 1983 c 312 art 8 s 17]
    Subd. 15. Full-time student. "Full-time student" means a student at a postsecondary
institution who attends training for a minimum of 25 hours per week if the training does not
involve shop practice and for a minimum of 30 hours per week if the training involves shop
practice, or who registers for and attends a minimum of 12 semester hours per semester or 12
quarter hours per quarter.
    Subd. 16. Single adult. "Single adult" means an individual 18 years or older who is childless
and unmarried or living apart from the individual's children and spouse.
    Subd. 17. Professional certification. "Professional certification" means a statement about
a person's illness, injury, or incapacity that is signed by a "qualified professional" as defined in
section 256J.08, subdivision 73a.
    Subd. 18. Group health plan. "Group health plan" means any plan of, or contributed to
by, an employer, including a self-insured plan, which provides health care directly or otherwise
to the employer's employees, former employees, or the families of the employees or former
employees, and includes continuation coverage pursuant to title XXII of the Public Health Service
Act, section 4980B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or title VI of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974.
    Subd. 19. Cost-effective. "Cost-effective" means that the amount paid by the state for
premiums, coinsurance, deductibles, other cost-sharing obligations under a health insurance plan,
and other administrative costs is likely to be less than the amount paid for an equivalent set of
services by general assistance medical care.
History: 1973 c 650 art 21 s 2; 1975 c 359 s 23; 1976 c 2 s 81; 1977 c 301 s 1,2; 1978 c
772 s 62; 1980 c 536 s 2-7; 1981 c 360 art 2 s 32,33; 1983 c 312 art 8 s 4,5; 1984 c 654 art 5
s 27-29,58; 1Sp1985 c 14 art 9 s 28; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 403 art 3 s 28,29; 1988 c 689 art 2 s
186,187; 1989 c 282 art 5 s 46-48; 1990 c 568 art 4 s 22-24,84; 1990 c 611 s 2; 1991 c 255 s
19; 1992 c 513 art 7 s 125,126; art 8 s 16; 1Sp1993 c 1 art 6 s 27; 1Sp1993 c 6 s 14; 1994 c
483 s 1; 1994 c 631 s 31; 1995 c 178 art 6 s 17; 1995 c 207 art 4 s 3; 1996 c 451 art 2 s 38;
1996 c 465 art 3 s 28; 1997 c 66 s 80; 1997 c 85 art 3 s 26,27; 1997 c 203 art 12 s 3; 1999 c
107 s 66; 2000 c 343 s 4; 2004 c 206 s 52; 2005 c 159 art 5 s 3

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