Bill Text: NJ AR175 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Commissioner of DHS to encourage counties to use best practices to increase timely processing of applications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7)
Status: (Passed) 2014-12-15 - Filed with Secretary of State [AR175 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-AR175-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CARMELO G. GARCIA
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman CLEOPATRA G. TUCKER
District 28 (Essex)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman GABRIELA M. MOSQUERA
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Commissioner of DHS to encourage counties to use best practices to increase timely processing of applications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging the Commissioner of Human Services to encourage counties to use best practices to increase timely processing of applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Whereas, New Jersey stands to lose a share of the roughly $140 million it receives from the federal government for operating costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program, due to delays in processing applications for nutrition assistance under SNAP; and
Whereas, New Jersey ranks second to last in the country in meeting the federal requirement to process 95% of SNAP applications within the 30 days required by the federal government; this slow performance creates a hardship for thousands of residents of New Jersey with low incomes who qualify for the program, but have not been able to receive nutrition assistance under SNAP; and
Whereas, According to information provided by the Commissioner of Human Services to the Assembly Human Services Committee in September 2014, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the United States Department of Agriculture identified 10 counties with timeliness rates that raise concerns, and these rates, measured as of December 2012, ranged from 44.4% to 79.4%; and
Whereas, The Department of Human Services (DHS) has submitted to FNS a Corrective Action Plan, which requires the Division of Family Development in DHS to report weekly the counties' timeliness rates for both regular and expedited cases, with the goal to achieve 85% average Statewide timeliness for the six-month period from October 2014 through March 2015, and 95% timeliness for the next six months; and
Whereas, SNAP is a county-administered program, which is supervised by the State, and the number of residents qualifying for assistance under the SNAP program has increased; however, the timely processing of applications is a pre-condition to making nutrition assistance a reality for the increasing number of qualified residents who need the assistance; and
Whereas, DHS has suggested certain "best practices" to help counties improve their timeliness rates for processing applications for the SNAP program, and while some counties use new models for managing cases, such as "case banking," others have not done so; and
Whereas, The use of best practices and new case management models to speed up the counties' performance in processing timely applications for nutrition assistance under the SNAP program would go a long way to providing the needed assistance to thousands of New Jersey residents, and prevent the loss of federal funding to a program which provides such a vital part of everyday life, nutrition assistance, to residents of the State; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This resolution urges the Commissioner of Human Services to encourage the use of best practices and new case management models to speed up the counties' performance in processing timely applications for nutrition assistance under the SNAP program, which would go a long way to providing the needed assistance to thousands of New Jersey residents, and prevent the loss of federal funding to a program which provides such a vital part of everyday life, nutrition assistance, to residents of the State.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Commissioner of Human Services, the Director of the Division of Family Development, and the Directors of the County Welfare Agencies or Boards of Social Services in the State, as applicable.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the Commissioner of Human Services to encourage the use of best practices and new case management models to speed up the counties' performance in processing timely applications for nutrition assistance under the SNAP program, which would go a long way to providing the needed assistance to thousands of New Jersey residents, and prevent the loss of federal funding to a program which provides such a vital part of everyday life, nutrition assistance, to residents of the State.
