HAR §17-676-37. Income of sponsor of an alien

(a) For the financial assistance programs, income of a sponsor of an alien and sponsor’s spouse living with the sponsor shall be deemed to be the unearned income of the alien. The amount of the sponsor’s income which is deemed to be available to the alien shall be calculated as follows: (1) Obtain the total earned and unearned income of the sponsor of an alien and the sponsor’s spouse; (2) Deduct the lesser of twenty per cent of total earned income or $175; (3) From the remainder, deduct an amount equal to the department standard of need for a family of the same composition. The following persons living with the sponsor of an alien, shall be considered to be part of the sponsor’s family: (A) Sponsor’s spouse; and (B) Sponsor’s dependents who qualify as federal income tax dependents; (4) From the remainder, deduct actual amounts paid by the sponsor or sponsor’s spouse to persons living out of the home who qualify as sponsor’s federal income tax dependents; (5) From the balance, deduct any alimony or child support paid to persons not living with the sponsor; and (6) The net amount shall be considered available to the alien and deducted from the alien’s §17-676-37 676-23 monthly standard of financial need. (b) In the financial assistance programs, the income of the sponsor of an alien who entered the United States prior to December 19, 1997, shall be considered available to the alien for a period of three years after the alien’s entry into the United States. The income of the sponsor of an alien that entered the United States on or after December 19, 1997, shall be considered available to the alien until such time as the alien becomes a United States citizen. The alien’s failure to provide information and verification of the income of the sponsor of an alien shall disqualify the alien from receiving financial assistance. (c) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to an alien: (1) Admitted to the United States as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act; (2) Paroled into the United States under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for a period of at least one year; (3) Granted political asylum by the Attorney General under section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act; (4) Who is the dependent child of the sponsor or sponsor’s spouse and is living in the same home as the sponsor; or (5) Who is a domestic violence victim as defined in section 17-676-2 and the alleged perpetrator of the violence is the alien’s sponsor. (d) In the financial assistance programs, income which is deemed to a sponsored alien shall not be considered in determining the need of other unsponsored members of the alien’s family except to the extent the income is actually available to the unsponsored aliens. §17-676-37 676-24 (e) In the food stamp program, that amount of the monthly income of an alien’s sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse to be deemed shall be determined in accordance with chapter 17-663. [Eff 3/19/93; am8/1/94; am 10/28/96; am 9/26/97; am 7/16/99; am 01/22/02; am 11/19/05; am and comp 11/09/06] (Auth: HRS §346-53) (Imp: HRS §346-29; 7 C.F.R. §273.4; Pub. L. No. 104-193 (1996)) §17-676-38 Other unearned income that are countable for the food stamp program. Other unearned income considered countable for the food stamp household shall include: (1) The unearned income of an individual disqualified from the household for failing to comply with the requirement to provide an SSN or for being an ineligible alien, less the prorata share for the individual; (2) The unearned income of an individual disqualified from the household for intentional program violation or for failure to comply with the program’s work requirements; (3) Gross income minus cost of doing business derived from rental property if a household member is not actively engaged in management of the property at least twenty hours a week; (4) Moneys that are legally obligated and otherwise payable to the household, but which are diverted by the provider of the payment to a third party for household expenses. The distinction between whether the moneys are income or vendor payments is whether the person or organization making the payment on behalf of a household is using funds that otherwise are payable to the household. Funds payable to the household shall include wages earned by a household member and owed to the household, §17-676-38 676-25 a financial assistance grant to which a household is legally entitled, support or alimony payments in amounts which legally must be paid to a household member, and educational assistance. If an employer, agency, former spouse, or educational or financial institution who owes the funds to a household diverts the funds instead to a third party to pay for a household expense, the payments shall be counted as income to the household, unless specifically excluded in subchapter 11. Funds that are considered income and not vendor payments shall be handled as earned or unearned income depending on the nature of the income; (5) Moneys withdrawn or dividends which are or could be received by a household from trust funds considered to be excludable assets under section 17-675-30. These moneys shall be considered income in the month received, unless otherwise exempt under subchapter 11. Dividends which the household has the option of either receiving as income or reinvesting in the trust shall be considered as income in the month they become available to the household unless otherwise exempt; (6) Moneys received on a recurring basis whether it is obligated to the individual, such as a legal settlement, or unanticipated, such as a monetary contribution; (7) That amount of the monthly income of an alien’s sponsor and the sponsor’s spouse that has been deemed to be that of the alien as unearned income in accordance with chapter 17-663; (8) Payments received under the Repatriated American Programs, unless the person receiving the payment is required to sign an express agreement to repay the funds received; §17-676-38 676-26 (9) Foster care payments of the foster person when the foster care home provider has opted to include the foster person as a member of its food stamp household in accordance with section 17-663-2. Any additional paymentprovided to the foster care home provider as incentive or retainer fees for participating in the foster care program shall be considered as unearned income to the foster care home provider household; (10) Any interest or dividends received by the food stamp household or credited to any accounts for the household from banks, loans, or other sources; and (11) Cash dividends from stocks, life insurance, or other sources. [Eff 02/7/94; am 1/30/95; am 10/28/96; comp 11/09/06] (Auth: HRS §346-14) (Imp: 7 C.F.R. §273.9(b); Pub. L. No. 104-193 (1996)) §