STATE OF ALASKA
Department of Health
Division of Public Assistance
TRANSMITTAL NUMBER: 2022-03
MANUAL: Alaska Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
DATE: December 1, 2022
This year the Social Security Administration announced a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase effective January 2023, which increased the payee fee that can be excluded as unearned income.
This year the department went through a name change. Department of Health and Social Services is now Department of Health. We changed references throughout the manual from Department of Health and Social Services to Department of Health, including any email addresses and websites.
Highlights of these and other policy revisions are described below. If you have any questions, please contact the Policy & Program Development team at hss.dpa.policy@alaska.gov.
OVERVIEW OF CHANGES
Throughought the manual
- Changed all references from DHSSDepartment of Health and Social Services to DOHDepartment of Health, including any email addresses and websites
MS 601-3(E) Scheduling Interviews
- Removed mention of request for service in note section
- Clarified the 2nd bullet in this section for further understanding
MS 601-4(A) Verification Requirements for Initial Applications
- Clarified INME 9 provides verification for Social Security
- Clarified IEVSInstant Eligibility Verification System is used to check PFDPermanent Fund Dividend and Quarterly Wage
- Revised verbiage in charts for clarity
- Removed "NFIN" from CSSDChild Support Services Division section as this is an acronym for the NSTARNorthern Support Through Automated Resources, which is no longer used
MS 601-5(B) Benefit Start Date
- Clarified we cannot change the benefit start date on applications where individuals were living in an ineligible institution, such as a drug and alcohol treatment center
MS 602-1(A)(5) Excluded Household Members
- Clarified that the dates of the felony conviction questions, August 22, 1996 for drug felons and September 22, 1996 for IPVIntentional Program Violation's, in the GEN 50CApplication for Services are different
MS 602-1(D)(5) Non-Qualified Aliens
- Added the list of documents for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) verification in a list format
MS 602-1(D)(6) Documentation of United States Citizenship and Eligible Alien Status
- Updated link for USCISUnited States Citizenship and Immigration Services forms
MS 602-3(B) Unearned Income
- Updated payee fees to reflect COLACost of Living Allowance change
MS 602-3(D)(18) Volunteer Payments
- Clarified AmeriCorps VISTAVolunteers in Service to America payments are considered countable earned income, not unearned
MS 604-3(d) Reporting and Acting on Changes During the Certification Period
- Clarified the policy regarding the EBTElectronic Benefit Transfer Transaction report and added a link for caseworkers to cross reference the updated EBTElectronic Benefit Transfer transaction process in Admin MS 112-4(B)
- Added an example showing action is taken to adversely affect benefits when a GEN 61General Relief Assistance Burial Pre-Authorization and Billing Form is received from the funeral home indicating a SNAP recipient's passing