c. Emergency and Disaster Declarations and High Unemployment Rate

As specified at § 435.555(d)(2) and further described in section II.G.5. of this IFC, an applicable individual residing in a county or equivalent unit of local government in which an emergency or disaster exists as declared by the President under the Stafford Act or the NEA, meets the short-term hardship exception, if their State elects to offer short-term hardship exceptions. Similarly, an applicable individual meets the criteria for a short-term hardship if they reside in a county or equivalent unit of local government in which the unemployment rate is at or above 8 percent or 1.5 times the national unemployment rate (whichever is less) provided the State demonstrates the unemployment rate meets the threshold in a request to CMS, consistent with requirements described in section II.G.6. of this IFC. At § 435.557(g)(2)(ii), we implement the requirement that States electing to offer short-term hardship exceptions apply an automatic short-term hardship exception to applicable individuals residing in these affected locations without requesting any verification relating to these circumstances from such individuals. States must store and be able to produce records supporting verification of such emergency, disaster, or high unemployment rate upon request, for an audit or other review.