N.Y. Social Services Law § 158: Eligibility

§ 158. Eligibility. 1. A person is eligible for safety net assistance

who is financially needy as determined in accordance with title one of

this article and the regulations promulgated thereunder, is not in

sanction status for a program authorized by this chapter and:

(a) resides in a family which is ineligible for family assistance or

other assistance funded by the federal temporary assistance for needy

families block grant because an adult in the family has exceeded the

maximum durational limits on such assistance contained in section three

hundred fifty of this chapter, or

(b) is an adult who would otherwise be eligible for family assistance

except that he or she does not reside with a dependent child, or

(c) resides in a family that would otherwise be eligible for family

assistance except that at least one adult or minor head of household has

been determined in accordance with section one hundred thirty-two of

this article to be abusing illegal substances or engaging in the

habitual and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, or

(d) is under the age of eighteen, not living with his or her child and

has no adult relatives with whom to reside, or

(e) resides in a family in which a person required to submit to

screening or evaluation for use of illegal drugs or excess alcohol

consumption pursuant to section one hundred thirty-two of this article

refused to comply, or

(f) resides in a family which includes a person disqualified from

receiving assistance pursuant to paragraph (f) of subdivision four of

section one hundred thirty-two of this article, or

(g) is a qualified alien who is ineligible to receive assistance

funded under the temporary assistance for needy families block grant

solely because of section four hundred three of the federal personal

responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act of 1996 (P.L.

104-193) or is a noncitizen who is permanently residing under color of

law but is not a qualified alien.

2. A person who shall be eligible for family assistance according to

the provisions of title ten of this article shall be granted family

assistance and while receiving such aid shall not be eligible for safety

net assistance. A person who is receiving federal supplemental security

income payments and/or additional state payments shall not be eligible

for safety net assistance. A person who is eligible for refugee cash

assistance pursuant to the plan established pursuant to section three

hundred fifty-eight of this article shall not be eligible for safety net

assistance. An applicant for or recipient of safety net assistance shall

be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to

sign a written authorization allowing the secretary of the federal

department of health and human services to pay to the social services

district his or her initial supplemental security income payment and

allowing the social services district to deduct from his or her initial

payment the amount of safety net assistance granted for any month for

which he or she subsequently is determined eligible to receive

supplemental security income benefits. For the purposes of this

subdivision the term "initial payment" shall refer to the first payment

of supplemental security income benefits after a person files an

application for benefits or after a person who has been terminated or

suspended from eligibility for supplemental security income benefits

subsequently has been found eligible for such benefits. An applicant for

safety net assistance who reasonably appears to meet the criteria for

eligibility for federal supplemental security income payments shall also

be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to

apply for such payments and shall, if otherwise eligible therefor, be

eligible for safety net assistance until he or she has received a

federal supplemental security income payment. Further, if an applicant

for safety net assistance is required to apply for federal supplemental

security payments and is denied, such person shall, subject to

department regulation, also be required as a condition of eligibility to

appeal his or her denial and exhaust his or her administrative remedies;

such person shall remain eligible for safety net assistance, so long as

he or she otherwise remains eligible while his or her appeal is pending.

3. A person shall not be eligible for safety net assistance who has

made a voluntary assignment or transfer of property for the purpose of

qualifying for such aid. A transfer of property made within one year of

the date of application shall be presumed to have been made for the

purpose of qualifying for such assistance.

4. Social services officials shall determine eligibility for safety

net assistance within thirty days of receiving an application for safety

net assistance. Such officials shall notify applicants of safety net

assistance about the availability of assistance to meet emergency

circumstances or to prevent eviction.

5. Application for or receipt of safety net assistance shall operate

as an assignment to the state and the social services district concerned

of any rights to support that accrue during the period that a family

receives safety net assistance from any other person as such applicant

or recipient may have either on their own behalf or on behalf of any

other family member for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for

or receiving assistance. Applicants for or recipients of safety net

assistance shall be informed that such application for or receipt of

such benefits will constitute such an assignment. Such assignment shall

terminate with respect to current support rights upon a determination by

the social services district that such person is no longer eligible for

safety net assistance, except with respect to the amount of any unpaid

support obligation that has accrued during the period that a family

received safety net assistance.

6. In addition to other eligibility requirements, each person who is

applying for or receiving assistance under this title, and who is

otherwise eligible for assistance under this title, shall be required,

as a further condition of eligibility for such assistance:

(i) to assign to the state and the social services district any rights

to support that accrue during the period that a family receives safety

net assistance from any other person as such applicant or recipient may

have either on their own behalf or on behalf of any other family member

for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for or receiving

assistance; and

(ii) to cooperate with the state and the social services official, in

accordance with standards established by regulations of the office of

temporary and disability assistance consistent with federal law and

regulations, in establishing the paternity of a child born

out-of-wedlock for whom assistance under this title is being applied for

or received, in their efforts to locate any absent parent and in

obtaining support payments or any other payments or property due such

person and due each child for whom assistance under this title is being

applied for or received, except that an applicant or recipient shall not

be required to cooperate in such efforts in cases in which the social

services official has determined, in accordance with criteria, including

the best interests of the child, as established by regulations of the

office of temporary and disability assistance consistent with federal

law and regulations, that such applicant or recipient has good cause to

refuse to cooperate. Each social services district shall inform

applicants for and recipients of safety net assistance required to

cooperate with the state and local social services officials pursuant to

the provisions of this paragraph, that where a proceeding to establish

paternity has been filed, and the allegation of paternity has been

denied by the respondent, there shall be a stay of all paternity

proceedings and related social services district proceedings until sixty

days after the birth of the child. Such applicants and recipients shall

also be informed that public assistance and care shall not be denied

during a stay on the basis of refusal to cooperate pursuant to the

provisions of this paragraph.

7. As a condition of eligibility for the receipt of safety net

assistance, every applicant for such assistance must:

(i) sign an agreement which provides that, if it is determined that

money is owed to the social services district because of overpayments of

safety net assistance to the applicant while a recipient of safety net

assistance, the applicant agrees to repay any such money that remains

due after the applicant ceases to receive safety net assistance; and

(ii) sign an assignment of future earnings on a form prescribed by the

department to secure the repayment of any money that is determined,

after providing the opportunity for a fair hearing in accordance with

section twenty-two of this chapter, to be owed to the social services

district because of overpayments of safety net assistance to the

applicant while a recipient of safety net assistance. The prescribed

form shall include the following notice: "THIS AGREEMENT AUTHORIZES THE

SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT TO RECOVER ANY OVERPAYMENT OF YOUR PUBLIC

ASSISTANCE BENEFITS BY COLLECTING THE AMOUNT OF THE OVERPAYMENT DIRECTLY

FROM YOUR FUTURE WAGES. IF YOU FAIL TO MAKE THE PAYMENTS REQUIRED BY A

REPAYMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND THE SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT, THE

SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT WILL FILE THIS AGREEMENT WITH YOUR EMPLOYER AND

RECOVER THE OVERPAYMENT DIRECTLY FROM YOUR WAGES." In addition, the

assignment of future earnings and the enforcement thereof must comply

with all requirements of article three-A of the personal property law.

The social services district may file the assignment of future earnings

with the employer of the assignor only if the assignor fails to make

payments of money owed to the social services district in accordance

with the agreement required in paragraph (i) of this subdivision.

8. No person who resides with his or her minor child shall be eligible

for safety net assistance except as provided in subdivision one of this

section.