Page 29

Page | 28 B. Employee testimony subpoenaed: After approval has been granted from SNAP program staff, appear in court for the date and time of the court hearing. When called to the witness stand, the employee should give identifying information (example; name, place of employment, years of services, etc.), and when asked about information regarding the SNAP customer or case file state “The information you are asking for is considered confidential under the Code of Federal Regulations at 7 CFR 271.1(c) and South Dakota Codified Laws (SDCL) 28-1-29 and 28-1-32. Based on this I am not at liberty to answer your questions unless so further ordered by this court.” If the judge orders the testimony to continue, the employee may answer all questions.

1430 AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC INFORMATION

The South Dakota Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Manual issued for use in certifying households is available for inspection on the DSS website.

1440 PROGRAM INFORMATION ACTIVITIES

The “Justice for All” Poster, AD-475B, must be displayed in Social Services offices. In addition, the customer’s rights and responsibilities for filing an application must be displayed in each office.

1500 RETENTION OF RECORDS

SNAP records must be retained for review or audit by USDA in accordance with Federal Regulations.

SNAP records are comprised of applications and renewals including required forms, worksheets used in computation of income for eligibility and issuance, documentation including verification techniques employed by the benefits specialist, any forms authorizing or changing participation or issuance, copies of correspondence sent to the household and the household’s response, and actions related to the fair hearing process. These records must be retained for three years from the month of origin of the record.

SNAP fiscal records and accounting documents must be retained for three years from the date of fiscal or administrative closure. Fiscal records include but are not limited to claims, recoupments, documentation of restored benefits, and emergency authorized representative designations.

In addition, SNAP files which contain pending fraud referrals must be retained until the referral is resolved.

Case records relating to intentional Program violation disqualifications and related notices to the household shall be retained indefinitely until the State agency obtains reliable information that the record subject has died or until FNS advises via the disqualified recipient database system edit report that all records associated with a particular individual, including the disqualified recipient database record, may be permanently removed from the database because of the individual’s 80th birthday. Disqualification records submitted to the disqualified recipient database must be purged by the State agency that submitted them when the supporting documents are no longer accurate, relevant, or complete. The State agency shall follow a prescribed records management program to meet this requirement. Information about this program shall be available for FNS review.

Closed files are kept for four years from the date of closure. Note: The three years starts after the overpayment has been paid in full or is closed by the Office of Recoveries and Fraud Investigations (ORFI).