I. Verification of Compliance With and Exceptions and Exclusions From the Community Engagement Requirement

In this section, we discuss requirements and State options we are implementing at new § 435.557 for States to verify: (1) that an applicable individual is compliant with the community engagement requirement in section 1902(xx)(2) of the Act; (2) that an applicable individual is deemed compliant for a month in which the individual was, for part or all of the month, in a mandatory or optional excepted status described in section 1902(xx)(3) of the Act, and (3) that an individual is a “specified excluded individual” defined in section 1902(xx)(9)(A)(ii) of the Act to whom the community engagement requirement does not apply. We also discuss the requirement in section 1902(xx)(5) of the Act that States conduct ex parte verifications by maximizing reliance on electronic data sources when verifying compliance with the community engagement requirement, including deemed compliance, or when determining that an individual is a specified excluded individual. Additionally, we address the circumstances under which States may require individuals to provide documentation or other additional information. In this section, we discuss the data sources that States will be required to use and considerations regarding use of other data sources. We also discuss verification options when there is no data source available to verify an individual's compliance, deemed compliance, or status as a specified excluded individual, or when the data available are not reasonably compatible with information provided by, or on behalf of, an individual.