H.B. No. 2819

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) "Supplemental nutrition assistance program" means the nutritional assistance program formerly referred to as the food stamp program.

Sec. 33.052. APPLICATION ASSISTANCE. (a) The commission shall develop procedures to ensure that:

(1) clear guidance on program eligibility requirements is provided to supplemental nutrition assistance applicants and prospective applicants and mechanisms are established, including Internet and e-mail mechanisms, as appropriate, by which applicants can obtain answers to basic program-related questions; and

(2) information is provided to each applicant in person, 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.

(b) The commission shall consider the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using office personnel or an automated system or systems to support the eligibility determination process by contacting an applicant in advance of an applicant's scheduled interview to remind the applicant of the interview and 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 and cost-effectiveness 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 and cost-effective.

(b) The commission shall implement, if feasible and cost-effective, 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) evaluating the compensation of eligibility determination staff members to determine if the compensation is sufficient to recruit qualified staff members and retain experienced staff members.

Sec. 33.055. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT INFORMATION. (a) The commission, in conjunction with state, regional, and local eligibility determination offices, shall identify eligibility determination program 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 provide periodic management reports generated by the automated eligibility system to eligibility determination offices. The reports must include information 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.

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 2819 was passed by the House on May 13, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not voting.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 2819 was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: _____________________

Date

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Governor