55 Pa. Code § 105.4 - Procedures
(a)
Use and
disclosure of information outside the Department. The Department will
use information or disclose it to private individuals, officials or agencies
outside the Department as set forth in the following:
(1) Provided that the information is not to
be used for political or commercial purposes, the address and amount of
assistance a person is currently receiving will be disclosed to an adult
resident of this Commonwealth who asks for the information about a person. In
releasing the information, the county office must be reasonably assured that
the person is 21 years of age or older and a resident of this Commonwealth. The
county office also will take the following steps:
(i) If the inquirer appears in person, the
information in the "Request" section of Form PA 163, Request for
Address and/or Amount of Assistance will be filled in, and the person
making the request shall sign the form before the information is disclosed. The
"Reply" section of the form will then be completed.
(ii) If the request is made by telephone and
the inquirer is known to the person receiving the request and the inquirer
knows about the restrictions on the use of information, the information will be
given over the telephone. Otherwise, the inquirer will be advised to either
come to the office or to make his request in writing. If information is given
over the telephone, the person giving the information will prepare a Form PA
163 (Request for Address and/or Amount of Assistance) for file, showing the
name of the person making the request.
(iii) If the information is requested by
correspondence, the county office will prepare a reply in duplicate, always
including in any reply that gives information the following excerpts from the
Public Welfare Code (62 P. S. §§
404 and
483):
Section 404: The department shall have the power to make and enforce regulations:
(1) To protect the names of applicants for
and recipients of public assistance from improper publication, and to restrict
the use of information furnished to other agencies or persons to purposes
connected with the administration of public assistance. Upon request by any
adult resident of the Commonwealth, the department may furnish the address and
amount of assistance with respect to persons about whom inquiry is made; but,
information so obtained shall not be used for commercial or political purposes;
and, no information shall be furnished regarding any person's application for,
or receipt of, medical assistance.
* * * * *
Section 483 Penalties.-Any person knowingly violating any of the rules and regulations of the department made in accordance with the Article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine, not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100), or to undergo imprisonment, not exceeding six months, or both.
(2) Information relating to the eligibility
of a person for assistance obtained as a result of a request for information
will be entered in the case record. The signed Form PA 163, Request for
Address and/or Amount of Assistance, or the duplicate of the letter
will be filed so as to make it as easy as possible to assemble information on
these requests for the State Office when it asks for the
information.
(b)
Additional uses. Before use or disclosure of information as
provided in this chapter, it is the responsibility of the Department to be
reasonably assured that the use or disclosure is for a purpose connected with
public assistance and the receiving agency or official will safeguard the
information, will use it only for the purposes for which it was made available
and has standards of protection equal to those of the Department on the use of
information by staff, and on office equipment and procedures.
(1)
Action by the Department to
collect money due, or to protect welfare of certain clients.
Information may be disclosed by the Department when necessary to carry out the
regulations on recovering money due as set forth in Chapters 255 and 257
(relating to restitution; and reimbursement).
(2)
Request by a public or private
agency. At the request of a public or private agency that the
individual has asked for services, information may be furnished to the agency
if its objective is to protect or advance the welfare of the individual, and if
the individual has given that agency specific consent to the release of
specific information from the records of the Department.
(3)
Judicial order
(subpoena). Information may be disclosed on proper judicial order. If,
however, a proper judicial order to disclose information other than as provided
in subsection (a) is for a purpose not connected with the administration of the
Department, the following steps will be taken:
(i) The Executive Director will send a memo
to the Chief, Division of Claim Settlement, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania explaining
the situation and asking for legal counsel. In an emergency, the Executive
Director will telephone.
(ii) A
staff member will appear in court with counsel.
(iii) The Department will plead, in support
of its request to withhold information, that under the Public Welfare Code
(62
P. S. §§ 101-1503), the rules of
the Department prohibit the disclosure of information in records and files,
including the names of clients, except as provided in subsection (a).
(iv) After the plea is made, the Department
will be governed by the final order of the court.
(v) Immediately following the court
proceedings, a complete report will be made to the Chief, Division of Claim
Settlement, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
(c)
Release of information to law
enforcement officials. For applicants and recipients of TANF and GA
cash assistance, the Department will comply with the following:
(1) Provide to a Federal, State or local law
enforcement officer the address of a fugitive felon, parole or probation
violator or an individual who may have information that the officer needs to
conduct official duties if the location and apprehension of the recipient is
within the official duties.
(2)
Exchange information with the Pennsylvania State Police and the Board of
Probation and Parole to identify individuals who have been sentenced for a
felony or misdemeanor and have not satisfied the penalty imposed by law to
ensure that cash assistance is not granted to those individuals. The
Pennsylvania State Police and Board of Probation and Parole will have access to
the records of the Department's Assistance Recipient Identification Program
(finger-imaging file).
(d)
Names of SBP recipients.
A request by an individual or organization for the names of SBP recipients, or
for lists of the names, except as provided in this section, will be referred to
the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, Department of Human Services,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The files of the Bureau of Blindness and Visual
Services contain the names of blind persons who are not recipients as well as
those who are. The Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services is the agency
authorized by law to collect data on the nature and extent of blindness in this
Commonwealth. The Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services will determine the
validity of a request for names of blind persons and will release appropriate
names to those individuals or agencies that have a valid interest in blind
persons.
(e)
Mailing or
distribution of materials. Procedures for mailing or distribution of
materials will be as follows:
(1) Materials
mailed or distributed to applicants, recipients or medical vendors will be
limited to those which are directly related to the administration of the
program. This will include materials enclosed in envelopes containing checks.
Materials having political implication are prohibited from mailing or
distribution to applicants, recipients or medical vendors. Specifically
prohibited from mailing or distribution will be holiday greetings, general
public announcements, voting information and alien registration
notices.
(2) Mailing or
distributing materials that are in the immediate interest of the health and
welfare of applicants and recipients is permitted. The materials include
announcements of free medical examinations, availability of surplus food and
consumer protection information.
(3) Only the names of persons directly
connected with the administration of the program will be contained in material
mailed or distributed to applicants, recipients and vendors. The persons will
be identified only in their official capacity with the Department.
(f)
Making rules and
regulations known. The provisions of this chapter, including the
penalty for violation, will be:
(1)
Distributed to every county board member and members of the appropriate State
boards.
(2) Circulated to
Department employees concerned with the administration of public assistance,
called to the attention of every new employee and filed to be accessible to
every employee.
(3) Made available
to persons to whom public assistance information is given.
(4) Made available to interested
persons.
Notes
The provisions of this §105.4 amended under sections
201(2) and 403(b) of the Public Welfare Code (62 P. S. §§
201(2) and
403(b)); Titles I and III of
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
(Pub. L. No.
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.