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An opportunity to the benefits means:  The household must be able to use their benefits on or before the 7 or 30 day processing period expires.

If the EABS is still waiting on required verification to determine eligibility for SNAP and the 30th day falls on a weekend or holiday the EABS must wait until the next working day to determine eligibility. If the required verification is received on the next working day and the case is approved, the case is still considered timely since eligibility could not be determined until the required verification was received.

Households who are determined eligible for expedited service must have their benefits available in their EBT account no later than 7 calendar days following the date of application. The fact that a weekend or a holiday may be included in the 7 calendar day period does not lengthen the processing time frame.

Whenever the approval is unavoidably delayed until the last day of the processing period, the EBT benefits will be automatically put into the customer’s EBT account that night when the EBT payroll runs, thus meeting the 7 or 30-day processing requirement.

Residents of public institutions who apply jointly for SSI and SNAP benefits prior to release from the institution, or correctional facility residents who apply for benefits prior to their release, must be provided an opportunity to participate as soon as possible but not later than 30 days (7 days if expedited) following the date of release of the applicant from the institution. (The application date is the date of release.) The 7/30-day count starts the day following the application date.

4240 FORMULA FOR PRORATING INITIAL MONTH BENEFITS

DSS will use a standard 30 day calendar month. A household applying on the 31st of a month will be treated as though it applied on the 30th of the month.  The formula for prorating initial month's benefits will be:

Full month's benefits x (31 - date of application) = allotment

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After determining the allotment, benefits will be rounded down to the nearest whole dollar. If the computation results in an allotment of less than $10, then no issuance will be made for the application month.

Example: An individual applies on June 5th. The 30th day for approval is Sunday, July 5th. The EABS must approve the case on Friday, July 3rd in order for the benefits to be available in the applicant’s EBT account on Sunday, which is the 30th day. Example: The household applies on August 18th and is approved for $275 for a full month’s benefits.

$275 X (31-18) = $119 (allotment for August)

30 Example: An individual applies on June 5th. The 30th day for approval is Sunday, July 5th. The EABS is waiting on verification of tribal casino payment. The verification is not received by Friday, July 3rd, so the EABS must wait until Monday, July 6th to see if the verification is received. The verification is received on Monday July 6th, so the case is approved on the 31st day and is considered timely approved.