SSB 1109 – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and child support
SSB 1133 – Public assistance and eligibility
SSB 1133 – Prohibiting licensing sanctions for student loan default
COMMITTEE ACTION:
SSB 1109 – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and child support
SSB 1109 requires that an individual receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits cooperate with the Child Support Recovery Unit to meet the requirements of their child support order. Currently, 89 percent of SNAP recipients are on other programs, such as Medicaid or Family Investment Program (FIP), that already require compliance with child support orders. The bill would require the Iowa Department of Human Services to set up monitoring of the remaining 11 percent of SNAP recipients.
[2/18: 7-4, party-line]
SSB 1133 – Public assistance and eligibility
SSB 1131 requires verification of public assistance eligibility. Public assistance is defined as Medicaid, Family Investment Program and SNAP. The Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) is authorized to contract with a third-party vendor to do real-time verification and monitoring of public assistance enrollees. The information on each enrollee must be reviewed quarterly. The contract with the third-party vendor must ensure that annualized savings to the state exceed the contract’s cost. The bill lists nine items that must be verified, all of which DHS already reviews (but not in real time). Currently, DHS reviews eligibility at either six months or one year. An amendment was adopted in committee to clarifies language regarding the contract with the third-party vendor; allows an enrollee to respond in 30 days (instead of 10 days) to refute a notice to disqualify; and corrects that a report of fraud goes to the Department of Inspection and Appeals, not the Attorney General’s Office.
[2/18: 7-4, party-line]
SSB 1133 – Prohibiting licensing sanctions for student loan default
SSB 1133 requires the state’s licensing boards to adopt rules that prohibit suspension or revocation of a professional license because the licensee is in default or delinquent on repayment of postsecondary education loans, solely on the basis of such default or delinquency.
The bill repeals Iowa Code sections relating to the process by which the Iowa College Student Aid Commission can initiate action to deny, revoke or suspend a license to someone who has defaulted. According to Iowa Student Aid Commission, they do not use this process now.
[2/18: short form]