State agrees to settlement with ACLU over UHIP food stamp delays

PROVIDENCE – A settlement agreement has been signed with the state over the federal lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice filed in December over the failure of the state Department of Human Services to provide SNAP food stamp benefits on time to needy families due to the tangled rollout of the UHIP computer system.

The settlement was reached with the assistance of U.S. District Court Chief Judge William Smith and is subject to the court’s approval, according to a press release from the ACLU issued Friday.

The ACLU and NCLEJ argued that the “systematically inadequate and faulty statewide implementation” of UHIP was causing “thousands of households to suffer the imminent risk of ongoing hunger as a result of being denied desperately needed assistance to help them feed their families.”

Two plaintiffs were named, and the ACLU said they were representative of “thousands of others,” as they faced multiple delays in getting their food stamps.

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The settlement agreement states that the state acknowledges its federal obligations to provide SNAP benefits in a timely manner, meaning that regular food stamp applications must be processed within 30 days of the date of application, and expedited food stamps must be given to destitute households within seven days.

The agreement also states that starting in April, the state must have an 80 percent timely processing rate for expedited applications and a 75 percent rate for 30-day regular applications. Those requirements increase each month until they must reach a 96 percent compliance rate for both types of applications by August.

The state also will be required to submit detailed reports to plaintiffs’ counsel documenting that it is meeting the goals set for increased compliance with federal reporting requirements.

The ACLU said it received more than 100 complaints after setting up a hotline last month to expedite applications for people facing hardships getting SNAP benefits due to UHIP problems.

“We are pleased that we have been able to work out an agreement which establishes long-term and short-term requirements to address the systemic problems created by the UHIP program for SNAP applicants and which has the force of a federal court order behind it,” ACLU of RI volunteer attorney Lynette Labinger said in a statement. “However, congratulations are not yet in order. It remains for the state to meet those obligations. We have no doubt of the state’s good intentions and its determination to achieve the mandated benchmarks, but promises do not fill stomachs. If the state is unable to meet the standards that it has agreed to, this settlement establishes our right to return to court to seek remedial relief for all SNAP applicants.”

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