1. (a) The Mayor, upon receipt of an application made pursuant to § 4-210.05, shall grant a fair hearing to any applicant for or a recipient of public assistance whose claim for assistance has been denied or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time not to exceed 45 days; or who is aggrieved by any other action or inaction of the Mayor which affects the receipt, termination, amount, kind, or conditions of his assistance.

2. (b) The following are the major objectives of the hearing process in public assistance:

   1. (1) To enable the Mayor and the claimant to ascertain jointly the factual basis on which, through proper application of the assistance law and agency policies, a just and equitable decision may be reached;
   2. (2) To safeguard applicants and recipients from mistaken, negligent, unreasonable, or arbitrary action by agency staff; and
   3. (3) To reveal aspects of agency policy that are inequitable or constitute a misconstruction of law. It is intended to submit policy to test and argument, and to place in the hands of policy-making officials evidence indicating the need for modification of policies and standards, and the nature of the needed modification.
3. (c) A hearing need not be granted when either District or federal law requires automatic grant adjustments for classes of recipients of TANF, POWER, or GAC unless the reason for an individual appeal is incorrect computation of the grant.

History

Apr. 6, 1982, D.C. Law 4-101, § 1002, 29 DCR 1060

Aug. 17, 1991, D.C. Law 9-27, § 2(j), 38 DCR 4205

Mar. 20, 1998, D.C. Law 12-60, § 701(t), 44 DCR 7378

Apr. 20, 1999, D.C. Law 12-241, § 2(hhh), 46 DCR 905

Editor's Notes

Application of Law 12-60: Section 2002 of D.C. Law 12-60 provided that the act shall apply as of October 1, 1997.

Emergency Legislation

For temporary amendment of section, see § 2(hhh) of the Self-Sufficiency Promotion Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-372, June 9, 1998, 45 DCR 4270), § 2(hhh) of the Self-Sufficiency Promotion Legislative Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-425, July 31, 1998, 45 DCR 5682), § 2(hhh) of the Self-Sufficiency Promotion Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-552, December 24, 1998, 46 DCR 521), and § 2(hhh) of the Self-Sufficiency Promotion Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1999 (D.C. Act 13-19, February 17, 1999, 46 DCR 2492).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 2(r) of the Public Assistance Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-306, March 20, 1998, 45 DCR 1900).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 701(t) of the Fiscal Year 1998 Revised Budget Support Emergency Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-152, October 17, 1997, 44 DCR 6196), and see § 701(t) of the Fiscal Year 1998 Revised Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-239, January 13, 1998, 45 DCR 508).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 2(t) of the General Public Assistance Program Termination Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-72, May 12, 1997, 44 DCR 2989).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 2(r) of the Public Assistance Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-25, February 27, 1997, 44 DCR 1778), and § 2(r) of the Public Assistance Legislative Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-77, May 27, 1997, 44 DCR 3181).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 101(j) of the Omnibus Budget Support Congressional Recess Emergency Act of 1991 (D.C. Act 9-69, July 24, 1991, 38 DCR 4945).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 101(j) of the Omnibus Budget Support Emergency Act of 1991 (D.C. Act 9-37, May 17, 1991, 38 DCR 3390).

Temporary Legislation

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2(hhh) of Self-Sufficiency Promotion Temporary Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Law 12-230, April 20, 1999, law notification 46 DCR 4143).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2(r) of Public Assistance Temporary Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Law 12-130, July 24, 1998, law notification 45 DCR 6501).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 701(t) of Fiscal Year 1998 Revised Budget Support Temporary Act of 1997 (D.C. Law 12-59, March 20, 1998, law notification 45 DCR 2094).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2(t) of General Public Assistance Program Termination Temporary Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Law 12-21, September 23, 1997, law notification 44 DCR 5760).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2(r) of Public Assistance Temporary Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Law 12-7, August 1, 1997, law notification 44 DCR 4639).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 101(j) of Omnibus Budget Support Temporary Act of 1991 (D.C. Law 9-19, June 21, 1991, law notification 38 DCR 5786).

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 3-210.2.