Anderson v. Saenz

Issue

The Anderson v. Saenz court case challenged the FNS policy to not exclude a vehicle as a resource when used to transport a physically disabled family member who receives SSI/SSP. FNS determined that when a motor vehicle is necessary to transport a physically disabled member of the CalWORKs family, that vehicle must be excluded in the property determination whether or not the disabled member’s resources are counted towards the property limit of the AU.

Date

The change became effective in February 2000.

Retroactivity

The retroactive portion of the claim goes back to January 1, 1998.

Informing

On or about May 22, 2000, the state mailed a “Welfare May Owe Someone In Your Home Cash or CalFresh” (TEMP 2181) to all active SSI recipients. A small supply was sent to each District Office to be provided to customer’s upon request.

A poster “Welfare May Owe Someone In Your Home Cash or CalFresh” (TEMP 2182) is being sent to each District Office and CET office. The poster is to be displayed from the date of receipt through July 31, 2000.

Required Action

The CROP Unit will process all retroactive Anderson v. Saenz claims. The District Office EWs and/or clerical staff are responsible for:

Providing the customer with the TEMP 2181, if requested,
Sending the case to the CROP Unit, if requested,
Following any instructions provided by CROP EW to complete the application process.

Application

The CROP Unit will process retroactive Anderson v. Saenz claims.

The retroactive benefit amount is the amount of CalFresh and/or CalWORKs benefits for which the AU would have been eligible except for the vehicle used to transport a disabled family member receiving SSI.

If a customer is determined to be eligible for a corrective underpayment on a closed case, the CROP EW will:

Balance any underpayment against outstanding overpayment balances, and
Issue any remaining benefit to the client.

On active cases, instructions will be provided to the case carrying EW using the “EDP Overpayment Instructions” (SC 1580) when action is needed to offset any overpayments with Anderson v. Saenz corrective underpayments by reducing the balance owing on the current EDP.

The EW must take the required actions within 10 working days of the receipt of the SC 1580.

Reminder: The Anderson v. Saenz payment is exempt as income or resources in the CalWORKs program.