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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 20

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 68 Chapter 20 Emergency and Special Assistance Programs

By design, West Virginia’s Summer EBT Program should mitigate large instances of erroneous benefits being used. West Virginia will use a paper-only application process, eligibility staff review each application to ensure the student is enrolled in an NSLP-participating school and does not already appear on the streamlined certification list. If a household submits a paper application for a student who is already directly certified or who has an approved free or reduced-price meal application on file, eligibility staff will identify the duplicate during the manual review process and will not process the application. The household will receive a notice informing them that the student has already been identified as eligible and no application is required. Since both the coordinating and partnering agencies have access to existing streamlined certification data for the State of West Virginia through an existing data sharing agreement, a special query can be run to compare the file of applicants through the WV SEBT application portal against the current list of direct certification students to determine if somehow a child presents on both lists. Duplicates can be removed so that an erroneous payment is not issued. 20.5.9.A.1 The Role of Investigations and Fraud Management, OIG Upon discovery of a potential Summer EBT claim, the Department of Human Services refers the case to Investigations and Fraud Management (IFM) for evaluation. Should the alleged over- issuance be substantiated, a claim will be established against the primary household member or the household member who signed the application for Summer EBT benefits. Should the error be determined to be an inadvertent household error, no claim will be established against the household. Claims will not be written for under $125 unless it is determined that those benefits were intentionally obtained by fraudulent means or trafficked. Households may request a partial or complete repayment of benefits from any available balance on their Summer EBT card by signing a benefit repayment form or giving verbal permission for the Investigator to do so. Summer EBT claims cannot be offset by reducing SNAP or WV WORKS benefit(s). 20.5.9.B Program Violators To the maximum extent practicable, claims against households will be limited to situations where there is evidence that the household knowingly obtained benefits through fraudulent activities and/or trafficking Summer EBT benefits. Administrative disqualification procedures will be initiated by the State agency in cases in which the State agency has sufficient documentary evidence to substantiate that an individual has