Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-39.5 – Unclaimed financial assistance balances in electronic benefit transfer accounts
Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-39.5
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Department: means the department of human services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
- Financial assistance: means public assistance, except for payments for medical care, social service payments, transportation assistance, and emergency assistance under § 346-65, including funds received from the federal government. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
If there is a balance of financial assistance benefits in an electronic benefit transfer account, that balance shall revert back to the program’s appropriation from which the funds were expended upon the death of a client who has no surviving family member receiving assistance in the same financial assistance case or upon abandonment of the financial assistance account. Prior to the reversion to the program’s appropriation from which the funds were expended, the department may use the balance of the household’s electronic benefit transfer account to offset any outstanding overpayments still owed by the household.
For purposes of this section, financial assistance benefits refer to cash payments authorized by the department to be issued through the electronic benefit transfer system. A financial assistance account shall be considered abandoned when there is no debit transaction to the account for a period of ninety consecutive calendar days.