§346-39.5  Unclaimed financial assistancebalances in electronic benefit transfer accounts.  If there is a balance offinancial assistance benefits in an electronic benefit transfer account, thatbalance shall revert back to the program's appropriation from which the fundswere expended upon the death of a client who has no surviving family memberreceiving assistance in the same financial assistance case or upon abandonmentof the financial assistance account.  Prior to the reversion to the program'sappropriation from which the funds were expended, the department may use thebalance of the household's electronic benefit transfer account to offset anyoutstanding overpayments still owed by the household.

For purposes of this section, financialassistance benefits refer to cash payments authorized by the department to beissued through the electronic benefit transfer system.  A financial assistanceaccount shall be considered abandoned when there is no debit transaction to theaccount for a period of ninety consecutive calendar days. [L 1997, c 199, §2;am L 1999, c 213, §2]