2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 5 - Assistance and Care › Title 1 - General Provisions › 139-A - Special Provisions to Avoid Abuse of Assistance and Care.

§ 139-a. Special provisions to avoid abuse of assistance and care.  1.
Any  person  who  shall  apply  for  safety  net  assistance  or  family
assistance within one  year  after  arrival  in  this  state,  shall  be
presumed to have come into the state for the purpose of receiving public
assistance or care and the social services official where application is
made,  shall  deny  public  assistance and care to such applicant unless
such applicant shall establish by clear and convincing  proof  that  the
purpose  of  his or her entry was not for the purpose of securing public
assistance and care in this state. In addition  to  complying  with  the
foregoing  provisions,  the  applicant shall also submit with his or her
application a certificate from the appropriate local  employment  office
of  the  state  department of labor issued within a two week period from
the date of his or her application stating that such  employment  office
has  no  order  for  an  opening  in  part-time, full-time, temporary or
permanent work of any kind to which  the  applicant  could  properly  be
referred  by  such  office,  taking  into  consideration only his or her
physical and mental capacity without reference to his or  her  customary
occupation or acquired skill.
2.  The  social  services  official  shall  in every case complete his
investigation and make his determination of the application  under  this
section not more than thirty days after receipt of the application.
3.  (a)  The  social services districts of Allegany, Broome, Dutchess,
Niagara,  Onondaga,  Oneida,  Orange,  Oswego,   Rensselaer,   Rockland,
Steuben,   and  Suffolk  shall  authorize  and  implement  demonstration
projects for the  purposes  of  determining  the  cost-effectiveness  of
preventing multiple enrollment of home relief benefit recipients through
the use of an automated two-digit finger imaging matching identification
system.  The  system  shall  only  include home relief benefit recipient
finger imaging upon application for eligibility for  such  benefits  and
finger imaging of home relief recipients currently receiving home relief
benefits.
(b)  Notwithstanding  the provisions of section one hundred thirty-six
of this article or any  other  provision  of  law,  data  collected  and
maintained  through  the  use  of  an  automated finger imaging matching
identification system as authorized by this subdivision may not be used,
disclosed or redisclosed for any purpose other than  the  prevention  of
multiple  enrollments in home relief, may not be used or admitted in any
criminal or civil investigation, prosecution, or proceeding, other  than
a  civil proceeding pursuant to section one hundred forty-five-c of this
article, and may not be disclosed in response to  a  subpoena  or  other
compulsory  legal  process  or  warrant, or upon request or order of any
agency, authority, division, office or other private or public entity or
person, except that nothing contained herein shall  prohibit  disclosure
in  response  to  a  subpoena issued by or on behalf of the applicant or
recipient who is the subject of the record maintained as a part of  such
system.    Any  person  who  knowingly makes or obtains any unauthorized
disclosure of data collected  and  maintained  through  the  use  of  an
automated  two-digit finger imaging matching identification system shall
be guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and shall be punished in  accordance
with the provisions of the penal law.
(c)  Data  collected  and maintained on the automated two-digit finger
imaging  matching  identification  system  shall  be  subject  to  those
provisions  relating  to  unauthorized disclosure of confidential client
information  currently  subject  to  part  357  of  the   commissioner's
regulations.
(d) Such social services districts shall develop a competitive request
for   proposal  for  an  automated  two-digit  finger  imaging  matching
identification system, and shall thereafter contract for the services of

a firm certified by the department as able to design and implement  such
automated  two-digit  finger imaging matching identification system. The
department shall oversee the process by which districts select and award
contracts for the demonstration projects. Prior to the implementation of
any  contracts,  the  department  shall certify that a system exists for
data collection and for destroying  and  expunging  a  recipient  finger
image upon such recipient ceasing to be a home relief recipient and that
the design of the demonstration project fulfills all the requirements of
this  section. The department shall provide such assistance as needed to
facilitate  finger  image  matching  among  social  services   districts
including  centralized  sharing of data when local matching among social
services districts is not feasible.  After award the department shall be
responsible for ensuring that the demonstration projects are carried out
in accordance with the  requirements  of  this  section,  that  adequate
training  for  local  district  staff  involved with the project will be
provided and taking any actions necessary to bring  such  programs  into
compliance  if required.  Such contractual arrangement shall ensure that
state payments for the contractor's necessary  and  legitimate  expenses
for  the administration of such program are limited to amounts specified
in  advance  and  that  such  amounts  shall  not  exceed   the   amount
appropriated therefor in any fiscal years.
(e)  Immediate  notice of all the provisions of this subdivision shall
be provided to home relief recipients or applicants.
(f) Notwithstanding any other  provision  of  law,  nothing  contained
herein   shall  be  deemed  to  authorize  or  permit  the  termination,
suspension, or diminution of home relief benefits  except  as  elsewhere
specifically  authorized  in this chapter, provided, however, that where
the basis of a proposed sanction is  a  determination  of  a  fraudulent
multiple  enrollment  based  on  the  use of an automated finger imaging
matching identification system authorized pursuant to this  section,  no
such  sanction  shall be imposed pending a hearing conducted pursuant to
section twenty-two  of  this  chapter  within  forty-five  days  of  the
notification  of  the  applicant  or recipient of the alleged fraudulent
multiple enrollment, or pending a final determination of a request by an
applicant or a  recipient  for  correction  or  amendment  of  a  record
pursuant  to section ninety-five of the public officers law, and no such
sanction shall be imposed unless the local social services district  has
verified   the   results   of  the  automated  finger  imaging  matching
identification system by means of a manual match conducted by  a  person
who is qualified to perform such identifications.
(g) The department shall conduct periodic audits to monitor compliance
with  all  laws  and  regulations regarding the automated finger imaging
matching system to insure that any records maintained as  part  of  such
system  are  accurate  and complete, that no illegal disclosures of such
records have taken place, that effective software and  hardware  designs
have  been  instituted  with  security  features to prevent unauthorized
access to  such  records,  that  access  to  record  information  system
facilities,  systems  operating environments, data file contents whether
while in use or  when  stored  in  a  media  library  is  restricted  to
authorized  personnel  only,  that operation programs are used that will
prohibit inquiry, record updates, or destruction of  records,  from  any
terminal  other  than automated finger imaging matching system terminals
which are so designated, that operational programs are  used  to  detect
and  store  for  the  output  of  designated  department  employees  all
unauthorized attempts to penetrate any automated finger imaging matching
system, program or file, that adequate and timely  procedures  exist  to
insure  that  the recipient or applicant's right to access and review of
records  for  the  purpose  of  accuracy  and  completeness,   including

procedures  for  review of information maintained about such individuals
and for administrative review (including procedures  for  administrative
appeal)  and necessary correction of any claim by the individual to whom
the   information   relates   that  the  information  is  inaccurate  or
incomplete.
(h) The department shall report to the speaker of the assembly and the
temporary president of the senate on the operation of the  demonstration
project  by March first, nineteen hundred ninety-six.  This report shall
include analysis of the cost-effectiveness of such  project,  and  shall
include information concerning instances of multiple enrollment detected
through  use of this system, and shall include a detailed summary of the
results of audits required by paragraph (g) of this  subdivision.    The
report  shall  include  recommendations  regarding  whether  the program
should be discontinued, expanded, or otherwise modified.
(i)  The  department  of  social  services  shall  contract  with   an
independent   academic   or  research  organization  (the  "contractor")
experienced in evaluating public assistance programs for a comprehensive
evaluation of  the  automated  finger  imaging  matching  identification
system  authorized in this section. The results of such evaluation shall
be set forth in a report which shall include, but not be limited to  the
following:
(1)  a  description  of  the demonstration project, its implementation
schedule and the problems encountered in implementation;
(2) investigations of each instance where a recipient does not respond
to a notice informing the recipient of the  need  to  submit  to  finger
imaging. Such investigation shall determine, to the extent possible, why
the  recipient  did  not respond and whether such failure to respond was
due to the recipient: (a) becoming  eligible  for  federal  supplemental
security  income  benefits, if any; (b) no longer being eligible because
of earned income, if any; (c) no longer being a resident of the  county,
if any; or (d) failing to respond because of other reasons;
(3) an evaluation of historical caseload trends, both statewide and in
the demonstration counties, including a study of monthly records for the
two  years prior to the demonstration, and also including the closing of
cases at recertification. Analysis of  such  monthly  records  shall  be
conducted  as  part  of  the  basis  of  estimating  benefits  under the
demonstration;
(4) an analysis of the procedures used to verify suspicions  of  fraud
including follow-up of identified cases of fraud, if any;
(5)  aggregate  totals  of false matches, if any, found by the system,
the methods used to  correct  such  errors  and  an  accounting  of  the
duplicate  applications  for  benefits, if any, that are detected by the
system; and
(6)  an  estimate  of  the  savings,  if  any,  resulting   from   the
implementation of finger imaging, and an estimate of the actual costs of
the  system  including, but not limited to equipment costs, the costs of
linking terminals, site preparation and  the  costs  of  any  additional
staff required to operate the system.
(j)  Not  later  than February first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, the
contractor  shall  submit  the  report  required  by  paragraph  (i)  of
subdivision  three  of this section to the governor, the majority leader
of the senate and the speaker of the assembly and to the commissioner of
the department of social services.
(k) The local  social  service  districts  establishing  an  automated
finger   imaging   matching   identification  system  pursuant  to  this
subdivision shall be deemed an agency as defined in subdivision  one  of
section  ninety-two  of  the public officers law, and data collected and
maintained in such automated system shall be deemed records and  systems

of records as defined in subdivisions nine and eleven of such section of
such law. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this section, the
provisions  of article six-a of such law, known as the "personal privacy
protection  law"  shall  apply  to  the  records  and systems of records
collected and maintained by such local social service districts pursuant
to this section.
(l) Expenditures made by social  services  districts,  and  determined
cost effective by the department, including those expenditures necessary
for  contracts  planned  or  executed on or before the effective date of
this  section,  for  the   design,   development,   implementation   and
administrative   costs   of   the   automated  finger  imaging  matching
identification system shall be subject  to  one  hundred  percent  state
reimbursement.
(m)  The automated finger imaging matching identification system shall
be established in the selected districts not later than  October  first,
nineteen  hundred  ninety-four,  and  such  demonstration projects shall
expire upon the enactment of a chapter of the laws of  nineteen  hundred
ninety-five  providing for an automated fraud prevention system based on
personally unique identification factors.