West Virginia Code 9-8-3 – Income and identity verification
(a) By December 31, 2018, the department shall redesign an existing system or establish a new computerized income, asset, and identity eligibility verification system or contract with a third-party vendor to verify eligibility, eliminate the duplication of assistance, and deter waste, fraud, and abuse in each public assistance program which it administers.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 9-8-3
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Assistance: means the three classes of assistance, namely: Federal-state assistance, federal assistance and state assistance. See West Virginia Code 9-1-2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 9-8-1
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Public assistance: means government benefits provided to qualifying individuals on the basis of need to provide basic necessities to individuals and their families. See West Virginia Code 9-8-1
- recipient: means a person who is applying for, or currently receiving, public assistance in the State of West Virginia from the department. See West Virginia Code 9-8-1
(b) The department may contract with a third-party vendor to develop a system to provide a service or verify income, assets, and identity eligibility of applicants to prevent fraud, misrepresentation, and inadequate documentation when determining eligibility for public assistance. This system or service shall be accessed prior to determining eligibility, periodically between eligibility redeterminations, and during eligibility redeterminations and reviews. The department may contract with a vendor to provide information to facilitate reviews of recipient eligibility conducted by the department.
(c) A contract made pursuant to this section may not include a provision that provides the vendor with a monetary incentive for reducing the number of recipients.
(d) Nothing in this article precludes the department from continuing to conduct additional eligibility verification processes currently in practice.