Action | Alter the time an application for food stamp benefits may be held pending before processing. |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 11/26/2008 |
Our agency supports the elimination of the Extend Pend regulation for Food Stamp applications pending more than 30 days. Some of the reasons are: low success rate for return of the needed data after day 30, the regulation is inconsistent with other program processes, the allotment is pro-rated according to the day of receipt so provides no additional benefit to the applicant that a re-application would not serve, applications that remain pending too long have a greater chance for error because additional changes occur that applicants fail to report, it hinders applicants who do report changes which necessitate their choice to re-apply so must withdraw the old applicaiton in order to do so, and the handling of cases after the 30th day is burdensome for workers which could adversely impact the accuracy or timeliness of the action.