The following definitions apply to SNAP:
Accounts Receivable: Overpayment(s) which have been grouped together on the automated system for tracking and collection purposes.
ADC: Aid to Dependent Children Program.
Adequate Notice: A written notice which contains the following:
1. The action the local office has taken or intends to take;
2. The reason for the intended action;
3. The household’s right to request a fair hearing;
4. The name of a person to contact for additional information;
5. The availability of continued benefits; and
6. The household’s liability for over-issuances received while awaiting a fair hearing decision which is adverse to the household.
Adjustment: An adjustment can be made to an EBT account to correct an auditable, out-of-balance settlement condition that occurs during the redemption process as a result of a system error.
Aggregate Benefit: The second month of a combined allotment. All of the following conditions must be met to be an aggregate benefit:
1. The application month must be expedited;
2. The eligibility for benefits must be determined during the application month;
3. the application date must be the 16th of the month or later; and
4. The household must be eligible for benefits for both the application month and the following month.
Allotment: The total value of benefits a household is authorized to receive during each month of the certification period.
Application: The action by which the individual indicates the desire to receive assistance by submission of an application.
Application Signature: Applications may be signed in writing or by electronic signature.
Application Submission: Applications may be submitted in person, by mail, by fax or by electronic transmission.
Boarder: An individual who either lives in a commercial boardinghouse or lives with a household and pays reasonable compensation in cash for meals and lodging. A boarder is not considered a member of a participating household and his/her income and resources are not considered available to the household.
Categorically Eligible: Households in which:
1. All members receive or are authorized to receive ADC, AABD, SDP or SSI payments; or
2. At least one member is authorized or receives:
a. ADC Emergency Assistance; or
b. Employment First supportive services.
Certification Worker: Local office staff qualified through the State Personnel System to perform certification services for applicant households.
Chemical Dependency Treatment and Rehabilitation Program: Any chemical dependency treatment and rehabilitation program which is a private, nonprofit organization or institution or a publicly operated community health center. Private, nonprofit treatment programs do not need to be funded under Title XIX, but must qualify for the same essential conditions as those publicly operated programs under Title XIX funding. The program must be certified to provide treatment that can lead to rehabilitation in accordance with the agency responsible for the administration of drug or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation programs.
CIS: Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Combined Allotment: The prorated first month’s expedited benefit and the second full month’s aggregate benefit issued together as one allotment. Combined allotments are only issued to households entitled to expedited service which apply on or after the 16th of the month.
Date of Discovery: The date a potential overpayment is initially discovered.
Department: The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Desk Review: A redetermination by the worker of a household’s eligibility completed by reviewing the points of eligibility and updating the food stamp case. A client is not required to submit a new application and/or have an interview.
Disabled: A household member who is:
1. Receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) under Title XVI of the Social Security Act or disability or blindness payments under Titles I, II, X, XIV, or XVI of the Social Security Act;
2. Receiving AABD or State Disability Program benefits;
3. Receiving disability retirement benefits from a government agency because of a disability considered permanent under Section 221(i) of the Social Security Act;
4. A veteran with a disability rated or paid as total under Title 38 of the United States Code or is considered in need of regular aid and attendance or permanently housebound under Title 38 of the Code;
5. A surviving spouse of a veteran and considered in need of aid and attendance or permanently housebound and incapable of self-support under Title 38 of the Code;
6. A surviving child of a veteran and considered to be permanently incapable of self-support under Title 38 of the United States Code;
7. A surviving spouse or child of a veteran receiving or approved for compensation for a service-connected death or pension benefits for a non-service connected death under Title 38 of the Code and has a disability considered permanent under Section 221(i) of the Social Security Act; or
8. Receiving an annuity payment under:
a. Section 2(a)(1)(iv) of the Railroad Retirement Act and eligible to receive Medicare as determined by the Railroad Retirement Board; or
b. Section 2(a)(i)(v) of the Railroad Retirement Act and disabled based on criteria used under Title XVI of the Social Security Act.
Note: A person meets the definition of disabled if s/he has been determined disabled by the agencies/laws which are listed. The individual does not have to be receiving a payment from the agency which determined the disability. For example, if a person is certified to receive SSI but is in a suspended status, s/he would be considered disabled for food stamp purposes.
Disqualified Household Member: A financially responsible individual who purchases and prepares meals with a food stamp household but is disqualified from participation.
Examples of disqualified household
members are individuals:
1. Who are ineligible immigrants;
2. With a work requirement violation;
3. Found guilty of having committed or having signed a waiver or disqualification
consent for an Intentional Program Violation (IPV);
4. With a conviction for using or receiving food stamp benefits in the
sale of a controlled substance;
5. With a conviction for trafficking of food stamp benefits totaling $500
or more;
6. With a drug-related felony violation and conviction after August 22,
1996, involving the sale or distribution of a controlled substance, including
the intent to sell or distribute;
7. With three or more drug-related felony violations and convictions after
August 22, 1996, for the possession or use of a controlled substance;
8. With fewer than three drug-related felony violations and convictions
after August 22, 1996, for the possession or use of a controlled substance
and not participating in or not completing an approved substance abuse
treatment program after the last conviction;
9. Found guilty by a court or state agency of having made a fraudulent
representation of identity or residency to receive food stamp benefits
in more than one household for the same month;
10. Who are fleeing prosecution or custody for a felony, parole or probation
violation; or
11. With a conviction for using food stamp benefits in the sale of firearms,
ammunition, or explosives.
Note: The disqualification period may vary in length or may be permanent.
Documentation: The policy of providing or supporting a written reason the worker takes a specific action.
Elderly: A household member who is age 60 or older. This includes people who are age 59 when they apply but who will turn 60 by the last day of the month of application.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT): A system that uses electronic funds transfer and point-of-sale technology for the delivery and control of food stamp benefits.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Card: A plastic card, similar to a debit card that holds the food stamp benefit information. The Nebraska EBT card can be used at Point-of-Sale (POS) machines to buy eligible foods at stores taking part in the EBT program.
Eligible Foods: Any food or food product intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and hot foods or hot food products prepared for immediate consumption. Eligible foods include:
1. Seeds and plants to grow foods for personal consumption by eligible households;
2. Meals prepared and served by an authorized chemical dependency treatment center to eligible households, including the meals of children living with their parents in the treatment center;
3. Meals prepared and delivered by an authorized meal delivery service to eligible households; or meals served by a communal dining facility for elderly persons, for SSI households, or both, who are eligible to use coupons for communal dining;
4. Meals prepared and served by a licensed or certified group home facility to residents who are disabled per the Food Stamp Program definition;
5. Meals prepared by and served by a shelter for battered women and children to its eligible residents;
6. Meals prepared and served by a DHHS-approved and authorized public or private non-profit establishment that serves homeless persons; and
7. In the case of homeless food stamp households, meals prepared by a restaurant that contracts with the Department to serve meals to homeless persons at low or reduced prices.
Expanded Resource Program (ERP): The ERP provides individuals with information and referrals about various programs and services that could be of benefit to the household. Programs and services about which information and referral is provided include: ACCESSNebraska web services, Child Care Assistance, Medicaid, ADC, Refugee Resettlement, Energy Assistance, and Developmental Disabilities
A household with a member who is disqualified from SNAP for Intentional Program Violation, a work requirement, or a drug felony is ineligible for the ERP.
Expungement: The process of removing EBT benefits from a food stamp recipient's account when there has not been a debit from the account within the last 365 days.
Federal Eligible Household Member: An individual who meets all of the eligibility criteria including the alien provision of the Food Stamp Program. Benefits are 100 percent funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
FNS: The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
General Assistance: Cash or another form of assistance (excluding in-kind assistance) financed by state or local funds as part of a program which provides assistance to cover living expenses or other basic needs intended to promote the health or well-being of recipients.
Good Cause: Circumstances in situations which are beyond the control of the applicant or participant. Good cause as a condition of failure to comply is covered in the specific sections of the manual, where applicable.
Group Home: A public or private non-profit residential setting that serves 16 or fewer residents and is licensed or certified by the appropriate state agency. To be eligible for food stamp benefits, a resident must be blind or disabled under Food Stamp Program guidelines. (This is also called a group living arrangement.)
Homeless Individual: A person who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence or an individual whose primary nighttime residence is:
1. A supervised shelter designed to provide temporary lodging;
2. A halfway house or similar institution that provides temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized;
3. Temporary lodging in the home of another individual;
4. A place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for humans.
Homeless Meal Provider: A Department-approved public or private non-profit establishment (such as a soup kitchen or temporary shelter) that feeds homeless persons. A restaurant that contracts with the Department to offer meals at low or reduced prices to homeless persons.
Ineligible Household Member: A financially responsible individual who purchases and prepares meals with a SNAP household but is not eligible to participate.
An example of an ineligible household member is an individual who fails or refuses to provide an SSN or an ineligible ABAWD.
Initial Month: The first month the household is certified to participate, or the first month the household is certified after not participating for more than one month.
Interfaces: Automated data exchanges that act as a clearing house for applicants and recipients and provide financial information.
Interim Report: A report due by the client mid-certification for Simplified Reporting.
Issuance: The amount of benefits placed in recipient EBT accounts.
Issuance and Collections Center (ICC): The Department staff designated to issue all Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards and to perform collection activities for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. ICC also coordinates and tracks all transactions with the Treasury Offset Program (TOP).
Local Office: The geographic area office designated by the Department as the administrative unit for local program operations.
Medicaid: Medical assistance received under Title XIX of the Social Security Act.
Migrant: A person who travels away from the place s/he calls home on an overnight basis in order to seek or perform agricultural work at one or more locations.
Non-Assistance (NA) Household: A household that does not meet the definition of a public assistance (PA) household.
Non-Household Member: An individual who lives with the SNAP household but does not receive benefits because:
1. The individual does not purchase and prepare meals with the food stamp household; or
2. The individual purchases and prepares meals with the food stamp household but is denied eligibility by program guidelines.
Examples of a non-household member
are:
1. An individual who is a live-in attendant;
2. An individual who is an ineligible student;
3. A child in a foster care program other than subsidized adoption when
the household has chosen not to include the child;
4. An individual who receives SSI from California;
5. An individual who is renting a room; or
6. An individual who has received Tribal Food Commodities.
Overpayment: The amount of benefits that exceed the amount a household was entitled to receive.
Program: The Food Stamp Program as conducted under the Food Stamp Act, the Food Stamp Regulations, and the Nebraska Food Stamp Program Policy Manual.
Program Evaluation and Review (PER): A review of a statistically valid sample of food stamp cases to determine whether households are receiving the allotment they are entitled to and to ensure that cases are not incorrectly denied or terminated.
Project Area: The administrative unit for operation of the Food Stamp Program. In Nebraska, the state has been designated as one project area.
Prospective Budgeting: The computation of a household’s food stamp benefit for an issuance month based on the worker’s and household’s best estimate of income and circumstances which will exist in that month.
Public Assistance (PA) Household: A household in which all members in the food stamp unit receive SSI, AABD, SDP, or ADC payments or at least one member is authorized to receive ADC Emergency Assistance or Employment First supportive services. The classification of PA household is not affected by the presence of a legally assigned foster child.
Qualified Work Quarter: A qualified quarter includes earnings covered under Title II of the Social Security Act and earnings not covered by the Social Security Act. Quarters worked in another country can be counted as qualified quarters when social security taxes were required to be paid to the United States.
Countable qualified work quarters for a noncitizen qualifying through 40 quarters are based on the sum of:
a. Quarters the alien worked;
b. Quarters credited from the work of a parent of the alien before the alien became 18 (including quarters worked before the alien was born or adopted);
c. Quarters credited from the work of a spouse of the alien during their marriage if they are still married or the spouse is deceased.
Information on qualified work quarters
is located in the FSP Best Practice Log under the category 'Alien (Noncitizens)'
and subject 'Forty (40) Qualified Quarters Guide for Lawful Permanent
Residents (LPR)'.
Instructions for processing a noncitizen in the automated system are located
on the FSP Best Practice Log under the category 'Aliens (Noncitizens)'
and the subject 'Instructions for Processing a Noncitizen'.
Recipients of Public Assistance or SSI: Individuals who are authorized to receive ADC or SSI benefits. This includes individuals who are eligible for zero benefits such as an ADC household whose benefits are $9.99 or less and households whose benefits are being recouped.
Reinstatement Month: A month during the certification period when a household’s eligibility is re-established. The household had a change in circumstances which determined the household ineligible for a period of 30 days or less. The household receives a prorated amount of benefits during the reinstatement month.
Reporting Categories: There are three separate reporting categories for SNAP households. The reporting categories are:
1. Simplified Reporting;
2. Transitional Benefit Reporting; and
3. Change Reporting.
Request for Contact (RFC): A written request that is issued during a certification for needed information and/or verification. It must be in writing and clearly advise the household of the verification and/or information it must provide. The client is given at least ten days to respond. It includes the consequences of failing to respond.
Residents of Institutions: Persons living in a group home situation which is not authorized to accept SNAP benefits and which provides its residents with the majority of their meals as part of the institution’s normal services. Residents of institutions are not eligible for participation for program benefits except for the following:
1. Residents of federally subsidized housing for the elderly under Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 or Section 236 of the National Housing Act;
2. Residents of a chemical dependency treatment and rehabilitation program;
3. Individuals who are disabled by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program definition who are residents of group living arrangements;
4. Women or women with children temporarily residing in shelters for battered women and children. These persons are considered as individual household units for the purpose of applying for and participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and
5. Residents of public or private non-profit shelters for homeless persons.
Restoration: Benefits issued to a household due to an underpayment in a prior month.
Retail Food Store: Any of the following:
1. An establishment or a house-to-house trade route whose eligible food sales volume is more than 50 percent staple food items for home preparation and consumption;
2. Public or private communal dining facilities and meal delivery services, chemical dependency treatment and rehabilitation programs, public or private non-profit group homes, or public or private non-profit shelters for battered women and children;
3. Any private non-profit cooperative food purchasing venture, including those whose members pay for food before receipt of the food;
4. Public or private non-profit establishments that feed homeless persons; or
5. A farmer’s market.
Seasonal Farmworker: A person who works on a farm or ranch on a seasonal basis when the work is generally within commuting distance of his/her home. A person who works on his/her own or leased or rented farmland on a year-round or seasonal basis is neither a seasonal farmworker nor a migrant.
Shelter for Battered Women and Children: A public or private non-profit residential facility that serves battered women and their children. If this facility serves other individuals, a portion of the facility must be set aside on a long-term basis to serve only battered women and children.
Sponsor: An individual who has executed an affidavit of support on behalf of an alien as one of the conditions required for the alien's entry into the United States.
The Affidavits of Support are the CIS Form I-864 or I-864A. Form I-864A is used by Citizenship and Immigration Services [CIS] when the person has more than one sponsor.
Spouse: Either of two individuals:
1. Who would be defined as married to each other under applicable state laws; or
2. Who are living together and presenting themselves to the community as a husband and wife by representing themselves as married to relatives, friends, neighbors, or townspeople.
State Agency: The Central Office of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Staggered Issuance: An issuance cycle which ensures households will receive their benefits on the same working day of each month.
State Eligible Household Member: An individual who does not meet the citizenship/alien status provisions for the federal Food Stamp Program but does meet the expanded state citizenship/alien provisions will have food stamp benefits issued under the state Food Stamp Program.
State eligible citizenship/alien provisions are located at 475 NAC 3-001.03C 'State Eligible Alien Statuses'.
Suitable Employment: All work is considered suitable unless one of the following situations exists:
1. The wage offered is less than the highest of the three following amounts: the applicable federal minimum wage, the applicable state minimum wage, or 80 percent of the federal minimum wage if neither the federal or state minimum wage is applicable.
Note: The training wage may be substituted for the federal or state minimum wage in situations that warrant the payment of a training wage. The training wage of at least 85 percent of the federal or state minimum wage may be paid to employees under age 20 for up to 90 days under certain conditions.
2. The employment offered is on a piece-rate basis and the hourly yield is likely to be less than the applicable wages above.
3. The individual is required to join, resign from, or refrain from joining any legitimate labor organization.
4. The work offered is at a site subject to a strike or lock out at the time of the offer, unless the strike has been enjoined under the Taft-Hartley Act or unless an injunction has been issued under Section 10 of the Railway Labor Act.
5. The individual can demonstrate or the local office becomes aware that:
a. The degree of risk to health and safety is unreasonable;
b. The individual is physically or mentally unfit to perform the work as documented by medical or other evidence;
c. Employment offered within the first 30 days is not in the individual’s major field of experience;
d. The nature or hours of the work interfere with the individual’s religious observances, convictions, or beliefs; or
e. The distance of the employment from the individual’s home is unreasonable, considering the wages and the time and cost of commuting. Daily commuting time must not exceed two hours per day, not including time required to transport a child to and from a child care facility. The employment is not considered suitable if the distance prohibits walking and public or private transportation is unavailable.
Supplemental: Additional benefits issued to a household within the current month. Supplemental issuances cannot be used to offset overpayments.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Monthly cash payments made under the authority of:
1. Title XVI of the Social Security Act, as amended, to the aged, blind, and disabled;
2. Section 1616(a) of the Social Security Act; or
3. Section 212(a) of Public Law 93-66.
Thrifty Food Plan: A determination by the USDA-FNS of the cost of food for various sizes of households.
Timely Notice: A written notice which contains all the elements of adequate notice and also is mailed at least ten calendar days before the action takes place. The mailing date of the notice is day one of the ten-calendar-day period. A timely notice may also be called a notice of adverse action.
Verification: Information obtained to establish the accuracy of information provided by the household. The use of third-party information or documentation to establish the accuracy of statements made by the household or provided on the application.
Voluntary Quit: Voluntary termination of employment of 30 or more hours per week or the equivalent of 30 hours per week times minimum wage. An individual who terminates a self-employment enterprise or resigns from a job at the employer’s demand is not considered to have voluntarily quit.
{Manual Bulletin 475-00-56}