State Settles Food Stamp Class Action By Improving Timeliness
HARTFORD, CT — Five years after filing a federal lawsuit against the state to force it to issue food stamps in a timely manner, legal aid attorneys said they’ve reached a settlement.
Greater Hartford Legal Aid and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, which brought the class action lawsuit against the state in 2012, announced the settlement Monday. The settlement requires the Department of Social Services to process food stamp applications and provide benefits to eligible households in a timely manner.
That means needy households must get benefits within 30 days and the lowest income households must get assistance within seven days. The consent order further requires the state to provide extensive reporting on the applications to demonstrate its compliance. The federal court will retain oversight of the compliance.
When the lawsuit was filed in March 2012, DSS had told lawmakers that anywhere between 20 to 40 percent of food stamp applications had been pending for 30 days or longer. Now the agency handles 94 percent of the 30 day applications on time.
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