Clarifying Information - WAC 388-437-0002 & WAC 388-437-0005

Supplemental Issuance

Households on food assistance are eligible for a supplemental benefit issuance to increase their benefits to the maximum allotment for their household size starting with the month of March 2020 and will continue on a month to month basis. Supplements may continue if the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) approves and the federal public health proclamation and state disaster declaration continues.

Beginning April 2021, all households, eligible to receive a supplement, will receive a minimum $95 emergency supplement.

Households that qualify for a supplement include: Households on TFA, WASHCAP, SNAP and FAP. Approved applications regardless of their application date (i.e. prorated benefits).

Staff will continue to determine the correct regular eligibility amount for the household.. Historic overpayments/underpayments will need to be reviewed to see if the household received the maximum allotment for the month. From March 2020 through March 2021, households cannot receive more benefits than the maximum allotment for their household size. Starting in April 2021, households will receive the maximum allotment for their household size, or $95 minimum emergency supplement.

Households eligible for a zero-benefit, due to income, are not eligible for an emergency supplement.

These supplements are not subject to overpayment, unless the household is found ineligible for Basic Food.

Households that receive less than the maximum due to a recoupment are still eligible to receive a minimum $95 emergency supplement based on their full benefit amount.

Automatic Issuance:

An automatic mass supplement was issued for March and/or April 2020 benefits to all households on the evening of April 3, 2020.

Review the Aces.Online Benefit Issuance history to see when the emergency supplements were issued. Emergency supplements are coded as FS/EBT-Supplemental Issuance – 863 .

Notices were suppressed and not required for Emergency Supplements.

After April 16, 2020, the ACES system automatically determined the emergency supplement amount owed to the recipient after approving an application or reinstatement in overnight batch.

Staff only need to complete a manual BEG when adding a person. See Worker Responsibilities. Emergency supplements will show in Aces.Online as FS/EBT-Supplemental Issuance – 863 after overnight batch.

Mass supplements will be performed at the beginning of each month as we receive FNS approval. We will confirm that the federal and state public health emergencies are intact one day of the month. The mass supplement dates may vary depending on the availability of our system and FNS approval.

The worker reinstates Peter for April 2021 and he is still eligible for $154 per month in food assistance. The system will automatically issue an emergency supplement in overnight batch for a minimum emergency supplement of $95 for April 2021, available the following day.

Manual BEGS

Staff need to review cases for a Manual BEG only when adding a new person to the assistance unit.

A new BEG type Emergency Supplement – ES was created to provide supplements manually for cases needing to add a person. This is important to track the funds for this program.

Letters won't generate when the BEG Emergency Supplement– ES is released. We don't require a notice for these emergency supplements.