9. No later than January 1, 2006, the Commissioner of Human Services shall, at a minimum, establish the following enrollment simplification practices for dependent children and their parents or specified caretaker relatives who are applicants for or recipients of the Medicaid program:

a. A streamlined application form as established pursuant to subsection k. of section 5 of P.L.2005, c.156 (C. 30:4J-12);

b. Require new applicants to submit one recent pay stub from the applicant’s employer, or, if the applicant has more than one employer, one from each of the applicant’s employers, to verify income. In the event the applicant cannot provide a recent pay stub, the applicant may submit another form of income verification as deemed appropriate by the commissioner. If an applicant does not submit income verification in a timely manner, before determining the applicant ineligible for the program, the commissioner shall seek to verify the applicant’s income by reviewing available Department of the Treasury and Department of Labor and Workforce Development records concerning the applicant and such other records as the commissioner determines appropriate.

The commissioner shall establish retrospective auditing or income verification procedures, such as sample auditing and matching reported income with records of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and such other records as the commissioner determines appropriate.

In matching reported income with confidential records of the Department of the Treasury, the commissioner shall require an applicant to provide written authorization for the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury to release applicable tax information to the commissioner for the purposes of establishing income eligibility for the program. The authorization, which shall be included on the program application form, shall be developed by the commissioner, in consultation with the State Treasurer;

c. Online enrollment and renewal, in addition to enrollment and renewal by mail. The online enrollment and renewal forms shall include electronic links to other State and federal health and social services programs;

d. Continuous enrollment;

e. Simplified renewal by sending a recipient a preprinted renewal form and requiring the recipient to sign and return the form, with any applicable changes in the information provided in the form, prior to the date the recipient’s annual eligibility expires. The commissioner shall establish such auditing or income verification procedures as provided in subsection b. of this section; and

f. Provision of program eligibility-identification cards that are issued no more frequently than once a year.

L.2005, c.156, s.9; amended 2008, c.53, s.1.