HAR §17-681-57. Adjustments to EBT SNAP accounts

(a) The department shall make adjustments to an EBT SNAP account after the benefits have been made available to the household to correct an auditable, out-of-balance settlement condition that occurs during the redemption process as a result of a system error. The adjustment may occur after the availability date and may result in either a debit or credit to the household. (1) Client initiated adjustments shall be made no later than ten business days from the date the household notifies the department of the error. Business days are defined as calendar days other than Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays. (2) The household has ninety days from the date of the error to notify the department of the need for an adjustment. (3) Retailer initiated adjustments shall be made no later than ten business days from the date the error occurred. (4) If there are insufficient benefits remaining to cover the entire adjustment, the full adjustment shall be attempted against only the household’s next month’s benefits. (5) The household shall be given, at a minimum, an adequate notice as defined in chapter 17- 649. This notification shall be made no later than the date the action is initiated against the household EBT account. (6) The household shall have ninety days from the date of the notice to request a fair hearing in accordance with chapter 16-602.1. Should the household dispute the adjustment and a request is made within fifteen calendar days of the notice, no further action shall be taken to debit the household’s EBT account until the fair hearing decision is rendered. If no fair hearing is requested within §17-681-57 681-30 fifteen calendar days, the adjustment shall be made to credit the retailer’s account. (b) Under certain circumstances when manual off- line voucher transactions occur due to the inaccessibility of the host computer and the transaction is rejected due to insufficient funds in the household’s account, the department may permit the re-presentation of the transaction during subsequent months. (1) Re-presentation of manual vouchers when there are insufficient funds in the EBT account to cover the manual transaction may be permitted only under the following conditions: (A) The manual transaction occurred because the host computer was down and authorization was obtained by the retailer for the transaction; or (B) The manual transaction occurred because telephone lines were down. (2) Re-presentation of manual vouchers shall not be permitted when the EBT card, magnetic stripe, PIN pad, card reader, or POS terminal fails and telephone lines are operational. Manual transactions shall not be utilized to extend credit to a household via re- presentation when the household’s EBT account balance is insufficient to cover the planned purchase. (3) The department shall debit the benefit allotment of a household during the first month following the insufficient funds transaction in the amount of $50 in the first month and the greater of $10 or ten per cent of the allotment in subsequent months until the total balance owed is paid-in-full. If the monthly allotment is less than $50, the department shall debit the account for $10. [Eff 3/04/04; am and comp 6/24/13] (Auth: HRS §346-14) (Imp: 7 C.F.R. 274.2(g) 681-31