1431 Timely and Adequate Notice

The agency shall give timely and adequate notice of agency actions to terminate, suspend, or reduce assistance except as provided for in 1432 regarding dispensing with timely notice and in 1434 regarding negative actions resulting from information obtained through federal match data. See 9340 for further information on notice provisions for reviews.

Adequate Notice - Adequate means a written notice that includes a statement of what action the agency is taking, the reasons for the intended agency action, the specific manual references supporting such action, an explanation of the individual's right to request a fair hearing, and the circumstances under which assistance may be continued if a fair hearing request is made. All notices must be adequate.

Timely Notice - Timely means that the notice is mailed at least 10 clear days before the effective date of action. Neither the effective date of action nor the mailing date shall be considered in determining this 10 day period. For closures, the consumer must receive the notice prior to the last day of eligibility. For increases in premium or liability, the consumer must receive the notice prior to the 1st of the month for which the change is effective. The Processing Deadline Code Card Chart on the KEES Repository shall be used to identify the last day in which action can be taken in order for timely notice to be provided for the various scenarios.

An increase in an unmet spenddown does not require timely notice; however a change which results in the spenddown changing from met to unmet does require timely notice. When a spenddown for a base period changes from met to unmet, the consumer is notified both by the Clearinghouse and by MMIS. The MMIS notification must be received before the 1st day they return to having an unmet spenddown.