82R8837 KLA-D
By: King of Taylor H.B. No. 2819
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operation and efficiency of the eligibility
determination process for supplemental nutrition assistance
program benefits.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, is amended by
designating Sections 33.0005 through 33.028 as Subchapter A and
adding a subchapter heading to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER A. NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN GENERAL
SECTION 2. Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter B to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B. SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM:
ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION PROCESS EFFICIENCY
Sec. 33.051. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
Commission.
(2) "Eligibility determination office" means an
office operating under the direction of the commission at which
supplemental nutrition assistance program applications are
processed.
(3) "Supplemental nutrition assistance program" means
the nutritional assistance program formerly referred to as the food
stamp program.
Sec. 33.052. APPLICATION ASSISTANCE. The commission shall
develop procedures applicable to local eligibility determination
offices to ensure that:
(1) the offices provide clear guidance on program
eligibility requirements and establish mechanisms, including
Internet and e-mail mechanisms, by which supplemental nutrition
assistance applicants and prospective applicants can obtain
answers to basic program-related questions;
(2) information is provided to each applicant by
e-mail, by telephone, or through the mail, as appropriate, about
information the applicant is required to submit for purposes of the
eligibility determination process; and
(3) office personnel support the eligibility
determination process by contacting an applicant in advance of an
applicant's scheduled interview to ensure the applicant
understands the documentation that must be presented at the
interview.
Sec. 33.053. USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO PROMOTE EFFICIENCY AND
FRAUD DETECTION. (a) The commission shall consider the
feasibility of using readily available document scanning
technology to reduce storage and maintenance costs and potential
loss of data by creating electronic case files for supplemental
nutrition assistance cases instead of maintaining physical files
for those cases. The commission shall use that technology if
determined feasible.
(b) The commission shall implement, if feasible, a risk
scoring program for supplemental nutrition assistance applications
to streamline the eligibility determination process, reduce
errors, and strengthen fraud detection. A risk scoring program
implemented by the commission must be capable of ranking
applications based on complexity so that:
(1) more experienced eligibility determination staff
members can be used to process more difficult cases and cases with
fraud characteristics; and
(2) applications ranked as low-risk on fraud
characteristics can be processed more expeditiously.
Sec. 33.054. WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT. The commission shall
improve its management of supplemental nutrition assistance
eligibility determination staff by:
(1) establishing clear performance expectations that
can serve as the basis for performance assessments;
(2) planning for anticipated staffing needs;
(3) revising policies regarding overtime and accrual
of compensatory time to ensure that eligibility determination staff
members have access to supervisors as necessary;
(4) assessing the effectiveness of training provided
to new eligibility determination staff members; and
(5) ensuring that the compensation scale is sufficient
to recruit qualified staff members and retain experienced staff
members.
Sec. 33.055. SYSTEM MANAGEMENT INFORMATION. (a) The
commission, in conjunction with state, regional, and local
eligibility determination offices, shall identify eligibility
determination system performance indicators with respect to which
data should periodically be collected. The commission shall
implement a process for collecting data on the identified
performance indicators.
(b) The commission shall maintain programming,
distribution, and management reports generated by the System for
Application, Verification, Eligibility, Referral, and Reporting
(SAVERR). In addition, the commission shall ensure that
eligibility determination offices generate periodic reports
regarding the number of pending supplemental nutrition assistance
applications and the number of those applications that have not
been processed within applicable timeliness standards.
(c) The commission shall use data collected under
Subsection (a) and the reports described by Subsection (b) to
develop and assess strategies for:
(1) streamlining the supplemental nutrition
assistance eligibility determination process;
(2) improving timeliness of eligibility
determinations; and
(3) accommodating increases in applications received.
SECTION 3. To the extent available for this purpose, the
Health and Human Services Commission shall use supplemental federal
funding provided for the administration of the supplemental
nutrition assistance program to implement Subchapter B, Chapter 33,
Human Resources Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.