Need to support federal requirement to note pro rate benefits for migrant farmworkers

OOTB we pro rate for CA and FA if the application is after the 1st of the month. For FA the earlier the household signs its application and turns it in to the food stamp office, the more food stamps it will get. Applicants will only get food stamps for the days in the month that are left when they apply. This is called �pro-rating.�[7 C.F.R. � 273.10(a)(1)(ii) and (iii); MPP �� 63-503.1, 503.131.]

Section 8(c)(2)(C) of the Food Stamp Act (Act) continues to provide that benefits for migrant and seasonal farmworkers are prorated only after a break of more than 30 days. The amendment to the Act made by section 827 of the PRWORA did not affect proration for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

Migrant and seasonal farm worker households with a break in food stamp aid of 30 days or less will not have their benefits pro-rated, but will instead receive benefits for the whole month. [7 C.F.R. � 273.10(a)(1)(ii); MPP � 63-503.13.]
If processing of the application was delayed beyond 30 days due to the applicant�s fault, because he did not comply with some requirement, the county has the option to deny the application or to hold the application pending his compliance with the required action. [MPP � 63-301.42.] Check with the county welfare office to see if it holds the application beyond 30 days. If the county chooses to hold the application beyond the 30 days pending the applicant�s compliance, the benefit level will only be pro-rated from the date the food stamp office receives verification that the applicant completed the required action. [MPP �� 63-503.13 and 63-301.42.]

Migrant and seasonal farm workers have a right to get food stamps for a full month, even if they apply after the beginning of the month, if they got food stamps within the last 30 days. [7 U.S.C. � 2017(c)(2)(C); 7 C.F.R. � 273.10(a)(1)(ii); MPP � 63-301.5.] It does not matter whether they received food stamps in the same state or somewhere else, as long as they were getting food stamps within the last 30 days.

State Policy
The state is changing their policy to simply check if the client received FNS for the benefit month prior to the application date and if so, do not prorate the initial month's benefit. The state creates a new PDC.

What does this mean for Income Support?
The state are reporting this issue against an application. If the caseworker is processing an application for a migrant farmworker as part of intake they should be checking if the client was already in receipt of FA before and if they already have an IC. If so and the client is applying within 30days they can reopen and recertify the original PD and not create a new one. NC do create a new PDC but should ensure that they associate it with the exitisting IC if the client is within the same household.

We do not currently check when the migrant worker has received assistance in another state ootb. If the client received FA in another state we should check this by checking if the client is a migrant worker and has received a benefit type of food assistance and check the end date on that benefit. It should have an end date as they cannot receive FA in more than one state. Based on the end date we can then determine if pro rating should occur in this new application or not. If the benefit was recorded for FA for another state and ended within 30 days and the client now applies after the 1st of the month do not pro rate.

Updates Required
1. To check if the client received assistance within the last 30days and not pro rate the benefit amount determined if they client received assistance for FA within the 30 days prior.
# Do not pro rate benefits when:
# Individual is a migrant worker AND
# Individual received Food Assistance within the 30 days

Check benefit type of Food Assistance and end date <= 30days from application date. (this checks for assistance received out of state or from another system)
Check on the current IC is there an existing FA PD and Check on the current IC is there an existing FA PD of which the migrant worker is an eligible member.

We should check across all ICs but this is a requirement we need elsewhere and due to performance implications has never been implemented and I don't think we still can so this is one check we may not be able to support. Instead to support if a migrant worker moves to another case, the caseworker to indicate they did receive assistance before should record it on the new application as benefit evidence of Food Assistance.