Date of Adoption: December 30, 2002.

     Purpose: Amend existing rule to comply with federal requirements. The Division of Employment and Assistance Programs is amending WAC 388-470-0005 Resource eligibility and limits, to implement new federal statutes on resource limits for households containing a disabled individual. The department filed the proposed rule as WSR 02-21-095 and the public hearing was held November 26, 2002. A second emergency rule is needed while the permanent rule is being adopted.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-470-0005.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.057, 74.04.510.

     Other Authority: Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, Title IV, Section 4107(1), United States Food and Nutrition Service Administrative Notice 02-33.

     Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule.

     Reasons for this Finding: WAC 388-470-0005 changes the resource limit for assistance units with a disabled individual to $3,000 to meet the requirements of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 - Title IV, Section 4107(1). This law was enacted on May 13, 2002, and required this rule change be effective October 1, 2002, to be in compliance with federal statute.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
     Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.

December 27, 2002

Bonita H. Jacques

for Brian H. Lindgren, Manager

Rules and Policies Assistance Unit

     (2) A client may own and keep excluded resources or countable resources up to the resource limit.

     (3) For SSI-related medical a resource is considered available when the client or spouse:

     (a) Owns the resource; and

     (b) Has the authority to convert the resource to cash; and

     (c) Is not legally restricted from using the resource for the person's support and maintenance.

     (4) For an SSI-related client a resource is available on the first day of the month following receipt of the resource.

     (5) Available resources may be:

     (a) Excluded which means it is not counted toward the resource limit;

     (b) Partially excluded:

     (i) The resource is not counted up to a specified dollar amount; but

     (ii) Any amount over that amount is counted toward the resource limit; or

     (c) Countable which means the entire value is counted toward the resource limit.

     (6) For medical programs, if the household consists of more than one medical assistance unit (MAU), the resources for each MAU are considered according to the related program.

     (7) An assistance unit's resources are determined by:

     (a) Disregarding all excluded resources;

     (b) Adding the value of:

     (i) Resources that are in excess of the excluded dollar amounts; and

     (ii) Resources that are countable; and

     (c) Comparing the total countable resources to the applicable resource limit for the assistance unit;

     (d) If the total resources exceed the applicable resource limit, the assistance unit's benefits are denied or terminated except for institutional medical programs as described in WAC 388-513-1395.

     (8) The value of a resource is the equity value. The equity value is the amount a person could receive for the resource (fair market value) minus the legal amount still owing. Limits for countable resources are:

     (a) For cash assistance and TANF-related medical, an eligible assistance unit's countable resources must be at or below one thousand dollars;

     (b) For food assistance, an eligible assistance unit's countable resources must be at or below:

     (i) Three thousand dollars for any household with either an elderly or disabled member; or

     (ii) Two thousand dollars for all other households.

     (9) For food assistance, assistance units in which all members are receiving cash assistance or SSI do not have to meet the resource limits in subsection (8)(b) of this section.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090. 98-16-044, § 388-470-0005, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]

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