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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ind. Decisions - "Federal Judge orders Ind. to improve food stamp processing"
Ken Kusmer of the AP reports in a long story:
A federal judge has ordered Indiana's partially privatized welfare intake system to speed up decisions on food stamp applications, but the state has a year to meet its first target.U.S. District Judge Robert Miller issued a preliminary injunction last week in a class-action lawsuit covering every food stamp applicant in Indiana over the past 19 months. The order represents the latest setback to one of nation's most ambitious welfare privatization efforts and came just days Gov. Mitch Daniels fired vendor IBM Corp. from its $1.34 billion contract to lead the project. * * *
Federal law requires all states to approve or deny most food stamp applications within 30 days, but Indiana usually falls short, deciding only 64 percent of cases on time last month. The preliminary injunction requires the state to decide 80 percent of new cases on time within 12 months and 90 percent within 18 months. * * *
Attorneys for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration and the plaintiffs negotiated the terms of the order over several weeks, and Miller, sitting in South Bend, signed it Oct. 19, four days after Daniels canceled IBM's contract.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 28, 2009 05:38 PM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions