Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit the Rhode Island ACLU brought against the state last summer for allegedly failing to meet federal deadlines for processing food stamp applications.

The federal lawsuit charged that the state Department of Human Services, through its delayed application process, denied "desperately needed assistance to help [applicants] feed their families" and to "suffer hunger."

On Monday, the federal court received an electronically filed proposed settlement in the class-action lawsuit brought against Human Services by the ACLU and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. It now must be approved by Judge William Smith.

Under the agreement, the state denies any liability but agrees to steps it will take to comply with federal law. Under federal law, states must process food stamp applications within 30 days, and as few as seven days for households eligible for expedited food stamps. As part of the agreement, the state must provide monthly statistical reports on food stamp applications to the ACLU and the National Center through the end of next year.

"The specific ways for addressing [the problem] were left up to the agency," said Brown.

Only days after the lawsuit was filed, the state announced that it was using federal stimulus money to hire additional food stamp workers, open a Providence office on Saturday and buy a new phone system.

"They were clearly in direct response to the lawsuit we filed over the summer," Brown said. "We have not received any complaints recently about the time deadline problems. One of the important aspects of the proposed agreement is this reporting requirement to ensure that compliance is taking place...Obviously if problems remain, we have remedies available, including seeking contempt citations if the state fails to live up to its end of the bargain."

In June, according to the ACLU, more than 107,000 Rhode Islanders participated in the program, with 5,000 applications submitted the month before. Yet federal statistics indicated that almost one-fifth of Rhode Island's food stamp applications were not processed in a timely manner.

"I am very pleased that we were able to work out a settlement with the state on this important issue," ACLU volunteer attorney Lynette Labinger said in a statement. "We believe that the order entered today will protect Rhode Island's most vulnerable families from the delays and inaction that literally left some children going to bed hungry at night."
The settlement permits the ACLI to seek attorneys' fees for its work on the case.

(An earlier version or this report was published at 11:56 a.m.)

 Tags  ACLU food stamps

Comments

Steve Micke said:

"The state does not admit wrongdoing under the settlement"

I am so surprised at this. I thought for sure they would and that they would appologize to all the people they let go hungry everyday.

NOT!

Link | October 13, 2009 12:08 PM
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