2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 17b - Social Services
Chapter 319s - Financial Assistance
Section 17b-104 - (Formerly Sec. 17-2). State supplementation to the Supplemental Security Income Program. Payment standards.

(a) The Commissioner of Social Services shall administer the program of state supplementation to the Supplemental Security Income Program provided for by the Social Security Act and state law. The commissioner may delegate any powers and authority to any deputy, assistant, investigator or supervisor, who shall have, within the scope of the power and authority so delegated, all of the power and authority of the Commissioner of Social Services. The commissioner shall establish a standard of need based on the cost of living in this state for the temporary family assistance program and the state-administered general assistance program. The commissioner shall make a reinvestigation, at least every twelve months, of all cases receiving aid from the state, except that such reinvestigation may be conducted every twenty-four months for recipients of assistance to the elderly or disabled with stable circumstances, and shall maintain all case records of the several programs administered by the Department of Social Services so that such records show, at all times, full information with respect to eligibility of the applicant or recipient. In the determination of need under any public assistance program, such income or earnings shall be disregarded as federal law requires, and such income or earnings may be disregarded as federal law permits. In determining eligibility, the commissioner shall disregard from income Aid and Attendance pension benefits granted to a veteran, as defined under section 27-103, or the surviving spouse of such veteran. The commissioner shall encourage and promulgate such incentive earning programs as are permitted by federal law and regulations.

(b) On July 1, 2007, and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall increase the payment standards over those of the previous fiscal year under the temporary family assistance program and the state-administered general assistance program by the percentage increase, if any, in the most recent calendar year average in the consumer price index for urban consumers over the average for the previous calendar year, provided the annual increase, if any, shall not exceed five per cent, except that the payment standards for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2010, June 30, 2011, June 30, 2012, June 30, 2013, June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017, shall not be increased.

(c) On and after July 1, 1995, the payment standards for families receiving assistance under the temporary family assistance program shall be equal to seventy-three per cent of the AFDC standards of need in effect June 30, 1995.

(d) For a family living in subsidized housing, income shall be attributed to such family which shall be eight per cent of the payment standard for such family.

(1949 Rev., S. 2614; 1953, 1955, S. 1448d; 1961, P.A. 316; February, 1965, P.A. 344, S. 1; 1967, P.A. 314, S. 2; 562; 744, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 730, S. 9; 1971, P.A. 642, S. 1; P.A. 74-244; S.A. 74-31, S. 16, 22; P.A. 75-420, S. 4, 6; 75-547; P.A. 76-269, S. 1, 2; P.A. 77-591, S. 1, 3; 77-614, S. 608, 610; P.A. 78-192, S. 3, 7; P.A. 80-385, S. 1, 3; P.A. 81-449, S. 1, 11; P.A. 82-91, S. 6, 38; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-8, S. 1, 3; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-34, S. 5, 8; P.A. 84-470, S. 1, 4; P.A. 85-367, S. 2, 5; 85-505, S. 17, 21; P.A. 88-156, S. 7; 88-201, S. 1, 3; 88-317, S. 67, 107; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8, S. 1, 63; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-16, S. 1, 89; P.A. 93-262, S. 1, 87; 93-418, S. 1, 41; P.A. 95-194, S. 2, 33; 95-351, S. 11, 30; P.A. 96-128; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2, S. 48, 165; P.A. 99-279, S. 6, 45; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2, S. 55, 58, 69; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9, S. 129, 131; P.A. 03-19, S. 38; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-3, S. 60; P.A. 04-76, S. 11; P.A. 05-280, S. 2; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2, S. 2; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-5, S. 36; P.A. 11-44, S. 77; P.A. 12-208, S. 9; P.A. 14-161, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 375.)

History: 1961 act gave commissioner power to make regulations; 1965 act provided income and earnings be disregarded as federal law requires; 1967 acts allowed disregard of income or earnings “as federal law permits”, required encouragement of incentive earning programs, gave to a cost of living commission the determination of standards of assistance and deleted duty to collect support from relatives; 1969 act rewrote regulation-making power provision and required issuance of regulations on or before January 1, 1970, required semiannual redetermination and revision of assistance standards and added proviso re aid to dependent children; 1971 act replaced semiannual redetermination with periodic redetermination of standards of need rather than assistance, required standards to meet federal requirements rather than to carry out state policy and deleted proviso re aid to dependent children; P.A. 74-244 replaced periodic redetermination with annual redetermination, required standards to reflect changes in living costs using Consumer Price Index and required report to general assembly; S.A. 74-31 added Subsecs. (b) and (c) re aid to dependent children, deleted reference to state paupers in previous provisions, now Subsec. (a), replaced chapter 48 reference with chapter 54, added proviso re aid to dependent children program and required standards to fulfill state as well as federal law; P.A. 75-420 replaced welfare commissioner with commissioner of social services; P.A. 75-547 clarified provision re amount of grant in Subsec. (c); P.A. 76-269 replaced former provisions of Subsec. (c) re shelter component of assistance and deleted proviso in Subsec. (a) which had referred to previous Subsec. (c); P.A. 77-591 deleted exception re shelter component in Subsec. (b) and changed applicable year from 1975 to 1978; P.A. 77-614 replaced commissioner of social services with commissioner of income maintenance, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 78-192 rephrased Subsec. (b) making increase applicable to standard of need rather than payment level, including family cases under general assistance program and changing applicable year to 1979; P.A. 80-385 changed rate of increase from 10% to 7% for year 1980 in Subsec. (b) and added proviso re “disregards”; P.A. 81-449 amended Subsec. (b) to increase the standard of need by 5% over the standard for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1981, replacing previous 7% increase; P.A. 82-91 amended Subsec. (b) to increase the standard of need by 3% over the standard for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1982, replacing previous year’s reference to 5% increase in standard of need over the standard for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1981; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-8 amended Subsec. (b) to change the date from “June 30, 1982” to “June 30, 1983”; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-34 amended Subsec. (b) to add reference to state program established pursuant to Sec. 17-83o; P.A. 84-470 amended Subsec. (b) to provide for an increase in the standard of need on July 1, 1984, based on the increase in the “most recent calendar year average to average consumer price index for urban consumers for the U.S. city average over the standard for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1984”; P.A. 85-367 entirely replaced Subsec. (b) re increase in standard of need for fiscal year 1984-1985 with new provisions applicable to increase for fiscal year 1985-1986; P.A. 85-505 replaced prior provisions of Subsec. (b) re increase in standard of need with new provisions re increases for 1986, 1987 and 1988 and provided for the first time a cap on increases; P.A. 88-156 deleted obsolete language in Subsec. (a), deleted Subsec. (c) re payment of shelter component to recipients of aid to dependent children program, and specified the current programs the commissioner is required to administer; P.A. 88-201 authorized the annual increase of the standard of need in Subsec. (b); P.A. 88-317 amended Subsec. (c) to update reference to Secs. 4-166 to 4-176 to include new section added to Ch. 54, effective July 1, 1989, and applicable to all agency proceedings commencing on or after that date, but failed to take effect, Subsec. (c) having been deleted by P.A. 88-156; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8 amended Subsec. (b) to delete language re increase in standard of need for fiscal year 1985-1986 to remove the needy student provision and to place a cap on the annual increase for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1992; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-16 amended Subsec. (b) by eliminating the increase in the standard of need for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1993; P.A. 93-262 authorized substitution of commissioner and department of social services for commissioner and department of income maintenance, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-418 in Subsec. (a) required the commissioner to establish payment standards for the AFDC and general assistance programs, replacing provisions requiring annual computation of standards of need based on federal Regional Consumer Price Index, in Subsec. (b) changed the words “standard of need” to “payment standards”, added provision requiring that payment standards not be increased until after the fiscal year ending June 30, 1995, and required that the payment standards in effect on January 1, 1994, be equal to the standards of need in effect July 1, 1993, effective July 1, 1993; Sec. 17-2 transferred to Sec. 17b-104 in 1995; P.A. 95-194 amended Subsec. (b) by adding the fiscal years ending June 30, 1996, and June 30, 1997, to the list of years in which payment standards shall not be increased, added Subsec. (c) lowering the payment standard on and after July 1, 1995, added Subsec. (d) providing that families in subsidized housing be required to count the value of such housing as income in determining the benefit payment, effective June 29, 1995; P.A. 95-351 amended Subsec. (c) by requiring payment standards apply to recipients of general assistance, amended Subsec. (d) by requiring that effective January 1, 1996, families subject to time limited benefits pursuant to Sec. 17b-112(b) and living in subsidized housing have their benefit payment reduced by 8% of the payment standard, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-128 amended Subsec. (a) to allow for reinvestigations of elderly or disabled recipients of assistance with stable circumstances every 24 months; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2 amended Subsec. (b) by adding the fiscal years ending June 30, 1998, and June 30, 1999, to the list of years in which payment standards shall not be increased, replaced Subsec. (d) with a provision requiring a family living in subsidized housing to have income attributed to it at a rate of 8% of the standard of need if such family is subject to fill the gap budgeting and 8% of the payment standard for families not subject to such budgeting and added a definition of fill the gap budgeting and made technical and conforming changes, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-279 amended Subsec. (a) to make technical changes and Subsec. (b) to require the commissioner to increase payment standards under the aid to families with dependent children program and to provide that the payment standards shall not increase in the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, and June 30, 2001, effective July 1, 1999; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2 amended Subsec. (b) to provide that the payment standards shall not increase in the fiscal years ending June 30, 2002, and June 30, 2003, and amended Subsec. (d) to provide that for a family living in subsidized housing, income shall be attributed to such family which shall be 8% of the payment standard for such family, deleting provisions re “fill the gap budgeting”, effective July 1, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9 revised effective date of June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2 but without affecting this section; P.A. 03-19 made technical changes in Subsec. (b), effective May 12, 2003; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-3 amended Subsec. (b) to provide that payment standards shall not increase in the fiscal years ending June 30, 2004, and June 30, 2005, effective August 20, 2003; P.A. 04-76 amended Subsecs. (a) to (c), inclusive, by deleting references to “general assistance program” and making conforming changes; P.A. 05-280 amended Subsec. (b) to provide that payment standards shall not increase in the fiscal years ending on June 30, 2006, and June 30, 2007, effective July 1, 2005; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting “On and after January 1, 1994,” and amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “1988” with “2007”, deleting “aid to families with dependent children program” and deleting specified fiscal years when the payment standard was not increased, effective July 1, 2007; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-5 amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re payment standards for fiscal years ending June 30, 2010, and June 30, 2011, effective October 5, 2009; P.A. 11-44 amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re payment standards for fiscal years ending June 30, 2012, and June 30, 2013, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 12-208 amended Subsec. (a) to add provision re income disregard for veterans’ Aid and Attendance pension benefits, effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 14-161 amended Subsec. (c) to delete reference to state-administered general assistance program, effective July 1, 2014; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 amended Subsec. (b) to add “June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017,”, effective July 1, 2015.