Montana Administrative Code

37.71.102 ROLE OF THE LOCAL CONTRACTOR The department will contract with appropriate community-based organizations in the state to provide outreach, receive and process applications, and provide weatherization services for the low income weatherization assistance program. A local…

37.71.106 FAIR HEARINGS Any person who is aggrieved by an adverse department action taken on his application, benefit status, form or condition of services, may request a fair hearing as provided in ARM 37.5.304, 37.5.305, 37.5.307, 37.5.310, 37.5.311, 37.5.313, 37.5.318, 37.5.32…

37.71.107 REFERRALS TO THE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, PROGRAM COMPLIANCE BUREAU The Office of Inspector General, Program Compliance Bureau (PCB) will have the power and duty to conduct an investigation to determine, based on the evidence gathered, whether a person or household …

37.71.110 WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM VIOLATIONS A person is guilty of a program violation if the person purposely or knowingly obtains weatherization assistance provided under Title 53, chapter 2, part 2, MCA, that the person is not entitled to receive, by means of: a know…

37.71.301 NOTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION An individual who makes application for low income weatherization assistance will receive written notice of eligibility including priority for service. If the applicant is determined ineligible, notification shall include the re…

37.71.304 NOTICE OF ADVERSE ACTION Each person determined eligible for weatherization assistance must be notified by the designated local contractor in advance of any action that terminates or reduces his benefits. Notification must be in writing and contain information about the…

37.71.308 APPLICATION/ELIGIBILITY Elderly or handicapped persons residing in a community residential facility as defined at 76-2-411 , MCA need not apply for weatherization assistance as provided for in this subchapter. The department will determine their eligibility based on the…

37.71.401 LOW INCOME WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, DEFINITIONS "Act of God" means an event caused solely by forces of nature without human involvement. "Child" means a person who is under age 18. "Disability" means the same as when the term is used in Social Security law pur…

37.71.404 LOW INCOME WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, ELIGIBILITY A household is eligible for the Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program (LIWAP) if: the household satisfies the financial requirements of (2)(a) or (b) of this rule; and the household's dwelling satisfies th…

37.71.601 ELIGIBILITY FOR WEATHERIZATION SERVICE: PRIORITIES Except as provided in (1)(a), a dwelling is not eligible for weatherization services funded with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funds if the dwelling has been weatherized within the fifteen years following the date of …

37.71.602 DETERMINING LOW INCOME WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE Weatherization assistance is available to eligible households in accordance with the prioritized measures as determined by the State's Computerized Energy Audit (CEA) system. Dwellings chosen to be weatherized must receiv…

37.74.101 DEFINITIONS For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions apply: Refugee means an individual who: is a national of Cambodia, Vietnam or Laos and entered the United States on or after April 8, 1975; or is a national of Cuba or Haiti and is an entrant to the …

37.74.102 REFUGEE CASH ASSISTANCE Refugee cash assistance (RCA) shall be provided to a refugee who: is not eligible for other cash assistance programs such as AFDC, SSI, OAA, AB, APTD and AABD; meets the following immigration status and identification requirements; has parole sta…

37.74.103 REFUGEE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE Medical assistance will be provided to refugees who qualify under (2) or (3) for the eight month period beginning with the month of entry to the United States. Recipients of refugee cash assistance are categorically eligible for medical assist…

37.75.101 DEFINITIONS For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply: "Active recruitment" means direct contact, initiated by a day care home sponsor, with a provider that is currently participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) under a current C…

37.75.102 CIVIL RIGHTS The CACFP is a federal program and all participants must comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The full description of participant responsibilities is set forth in the civil rights section of the CACFP Manual, and is adopted and incorporated…

37.75.103 CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM (CACFP): FEDERAL REGULATIONS ADOPTED BY REFERENCE The CACFP shall be administered in accordance with the requirements of federal law governing the Child and Adult Care Food Program as set forth in Title 7 CFR part 226 (2005), which regu…

37.75.105 HEAD START CATEGORICAL ELIGIBILITY A Head Start institution that serves children whose families do not meet the low income criteria of Head Start for eligibility must use the Montana CACFP income eligibility form and income guidelines to determine the free, reduced, or …

37.75.108 ADVANCES The department may, in its discretion, advance a payment. The amount of any advance payment will be based on the historical payment data for the specific institution. Any and all advance payments must be repaid to the department prior to the beginning of the ne…

37.75.109 AUDIT GRANTS An institution may be eligible to receive a grant from the department for the purpose of reimbursing the institution for all or part of the CACFP portion of an audit. To qualify for a grant, an institution must meet the following minimum requirements: An au…

37.75.201 DAY CARE HOME SPONSORS SERVICE AREAS The Montana CACFP sets geographical boundaries of operation for sponsors. Boundaries are set based on financial viability and need for services. Geographical boundaries follow county lines. In any area of the state where at least two…

37.75.202 TIERING CHANGES A sponsor may only claim meals for purposes of reimbursement for its sponsored day care homes once per month for any one tier category. A change in tier status resulting from new data, such as census, income information, or elementary school information …

37.75.205 PROVIDER ENROLLMENT A new provider must have a current, valid registration to provide child care in order to participate in the CACFP. An existing provider may be working toward renewal of its registration and participate in the CACFP if assurance is obtained from licen…

37.75.206 RECRUITMENT Day care home (DCH) sponsors are encouraged to recruit DCH providers to participate in the CACFP that are not currently participating and that have not participated in the CACFP through any sponsor within the last 30 days. A DCH sponsor may not engage in act…

37.75.209 SPONSOR CHANGE BY PROVIDER A provider may be enrolled with only one CACFP sponsor at a time while participating in the CACFP. Each sponsor must supply a copy of this rule to all providers upon their enrollment in the CACFP. Except as provided in (5), a participating day…

37.75.301 MENU EVALUATION CACFP institutions and providers must ensure that all meals and snacks claimed for reimbursement meet all federal and state minimum standards in accordance with 7 CFR 226.20. Each DCH sponsor must annually evaluate the menus of each day care home partici…

37.75.302 INFANT MEAL REIMBURSEMENT All meal components required by the USDA infant meal pattern contained in 7 CFR 226.20 must be supplied by the provider or center, with the exception of breast milk, for a meal to be eligible for reimbursement. Except as provided in (6), meals …

37.75.303 COMBINATION FOODS Each day care center and day care home shall list components of combination foods on menus as required by the Montana CACFP. Combination foods include, but are not limited to, the following: chili (ground turkey/beans); chicken casserole (chicken/rice/…

37.75.401 SPONSOR AND FACILITY TRAINING AND TRAINING RECORDS A center must provide annual staff training on CACFP requirements, including those related to nutrition education, meal services, and food safety. Each institution must provide free training to each facility it sponsors…

37.75.402 MILK PURCHASE RECORDS All reviews of centers performed by department staff and auditors under department contract will evaluate the milk purchase quantity documentation and compare it to the meals claimed that require a milk volume component. Notwithstanding any other a…

37.75.403 RECIPES REQUIRED All program providers or centers must maintain documentation as to the creditability of baked goods as a bread/bread alternate. Each day care center or day care home shall maintain documentation of bread/bread alternate ingredients. Documentation may in…

37.75.501 REVIEWS OF DAY CARE HOME SPONSORS The department will conduct at least one review of each day care home sponsor during each period consisting of two federal fiscal years for sponsors with 100 or more homes. The department will conduct at least one review of each day car…

37.75.502 REVIEWS OF CENTERS AND SPONSORS OF CENTERS The department will conduct a minimum of one announced or unannounced review of each center or sponsor of centers in each three year period. Each institution must provide all CACFP records to the CACFP review team when the CACF…

37.75.601 ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEWS (APPEALS) AND FAIR HEARINGS Except as provided in (3), an institution may appeal an adverse administrative action through the department's Office of Fair Hearings pursuant to the procedures provided in ARM Title 37, chapter 5. Adverse administrati…

37.75.602 CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN An institution receiving notice that it is deficient in some aspect of the CACFP shall submit to the department a corrective action plan to correct the deficiency. The plan must be postmarked within 30 days of receipt of the deficiency notice prov…

37.75.603 TERMINATION AND RE-ENROLLMENT OF A DAY CARE HOME PROVIDER When a sponsor terminates a day care home provider for cause, the sponsor must send to the department a copy of the termination letter that is sent to the provider. Upon receipt of this notification, the terminat…

37.76.101 FOOD STAMP PROGRAM The department of public health and human services hereby adopts and incorporates by reference 7 CFR 271 through 275, as amended through December 31, 2001, which are the food stamp program regulations as adopted by the food and nutrition services, Uni…

37.76.102 FOOD STAMPS, DEFINITIONS "Beginning month" means the first month for which the household is certified to receive food stamps. A beginning month cannot be any month which immediately follows a month in which the household was certified. "Budget month" means the calendar …

37.76.105 FEDERALLY-DONATED FOODS Distribution of federally-donated foods shall be as follows: during temporary emergency situations when the secretary of the U.S. department of agriculture determines that commercial channels of food distribution have been disrupted; for such per…

37.76.110 FOOD STAMPS, DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM Eligibility shall be determined on a prospective basis. Households anticipating changes in their circumstances which will make them ineligible shall be given written notice of denial or written notice of th…

37.76.111 FOOD STAMPS, DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY AND BENEFITS All households shall have their eligibility and the amount of food stamps they are entitled to receive determined using prospective budgeting. Prospective budgeting means using the best estimate of income and other circu…

37.76.112 FOOD STAMPS, DETERMINING WHEN ELIGIBILITY BEGINS Eligibility starts with the date a household applies for benefits. However, when a new member joins a participating household the eligibility of the new member will begin the month after the presence of the new member is …

37.76.120 FOOD STAMPS, CERTIFICATION PERIODS Households who are eligible for benefits shall be given certification periods of from 6 to 12 months except: self-employed households may be certified for less than 6 months in order to conform with the time when information about self…

37.76.121 FOOD STAMP EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM Participants in the food stamp employment and training program shall be reimbursed for costs of transportation or other costs that are reasonably necessary and directly related to participation in the program. The following rei…

37.76.122 FOOD STAMPS, TRANSFER OF RESOURCES Households which have knowingly transferred resources for less than fair market value for the purpose of qualifying or attempting to qualify for food stamps shall be disqualified from receiving food stamps for a period of time determin…

37.76.201 PLAN OF OPERATION The Food Distribution Program on IndianReservations (FDPIR)will operate on the following Indian reservations at their option: Blackfeet; Flathead; Northern Cheyenne; Crow; Rocky Boy; Fort Belknap; and Fort Peck. Authorizing statute(s): 53-2-201, MCA Im…

37.76.202 GENERAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Households that meet program eligibility requirements may be certified to participate in FDPIR for up to 12 months.Households in which all adult members are elderly or disabled may be certified to participate in FDPIR for up to 24 months…

37.76.203 CERTIFICATION AND REVIEW Applicant household eligibility and certification is determined according to 7 CFR § 253.6, 7 CFR § 253.7, as amended through November 25, 2022, and the FNS Handbook 501, updated June 2, 2022.Copies of 7 CFR § 253.6, 7 CFR § 253.7, and the FNS H…

37.76.204 FORMS USED FOR FOOD DISTRIBUTION Formsmay beobtained at the local countyFDPIR offices and from the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Human and Community Services Division, 1400 Carter Drive, P.O. Box 202956, Helena, MT 59620-2956. Authorizing statute(s): 5…

37.76.205 INCOME ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS Incomeeligibility standardsfor participation in theFDPIR are determined according to FNS Handbook 501, Exhibit M for the contiguous United States.The department adopts and incorporates by reference FNS Handbook 501, Exhibit M FDPIR Net Month…