Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-44 – Recovery of public assistance overpayments
Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-44
- Department: means the department of human services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
- Director: means the director 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
- Public assistance: means financial assistance to or for the benefit of persons whom the department has determined to be without sufficient means of support to maintain a standard consistent with this chapter, payments to or on behalf of such persons for medical care, and social service payments as described under the Social Security Act. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Recipient: means the person for whose use and benefit services are rendered or a grant of public assistance is made. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
- Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
All overpayments of public assistance funds, including but not limited to over issuances of financial assistance, food stamp bonuses under a food stamp plan, medicaid assistance, and incorrect vendor payments in behalf of a recipient, shall constitute a debt due and owing to the department by the recipient of such overpayments. In addition to the remedies elsewhere prescribed in this chapter for the recovery of assistance fraudulently obtained, recovery of all overpayments will be made to the extent allowable by federal regulations.
The department shall promulgate and enforce such rules and regulations as may be necessary to effect the maximum recovery of public assistance overpayments, including but not limited to the reduction of future public assistance grants. Departmental rules and regulations for the recovery of overpayments shall prescribe procedures for recourse to the civil courts when required, the filing of liens against the real property of overpaid recipients, and the filing of claims against the estate of a deceased recipient who has received overpayments which have not been recovered. Nothing in this section shall preclude the director of human services from promulgating procedures for waiving the recovery of overpayments in cases of bona fide hardship or where the costs of recovery would exceed the amount expected to be recovered.