RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 542 (SB 259) 2022 Regular Session Hewitt
New law provides for the "Public Benefit Integrity Law". Requires the Dept. of Children and
Family Services, Dept. of Education, La. Dept. of Health, and La. Workforce Commission
to report to the legislature annually regarding the agency's policies and processes for
identifying and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in certain government-funded programs
and the results of the application of those policies and processes.
New law defines "procedural reason" to mean a reason for an action on a program case
related to an agency's non-receipt of materials or information necessary for determining
benefit eligibility.
New law requires certain reports to be filed including the following:
(1)For the preceding calendar year, measures of access in the program, including:
(a)For each month, the number of applications received, the percentage of
applications denied, and the percentage of applications denied for procedural
reasons.
(b)Monthly call center performance metrics for call centers serving clients and
applicants, including the average number of calls and the average and
maximum call wait times.
(c)The average caseload per caseworker.
(2)A detailed description of the program's administrative appeals process for clients,
including but not limited to the number of hearings requested by clients and the
number of hearings waived by clients.
Effective June 17, 2022.
(Adds R.S. 49:1401-1403)