Department of Health and
Human Services
DEPARTMENTAL APPEALS BOARD
Appellate Division
SUBJECT: Pennsylvania Department DATE: January 21, 1994
of
Public
Welfare Docket No. A-94-40 Decision No. 1458
DECISION
The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (Pennsylvania) appealed
a
determination by the Administration for Children and Families
(ACF)
disallowing $24,861 in federal financial participation (FFP)
claimed
under Title IV-D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of
the
Social Security Act (Act) for the quarter ended September 30, 1993.
ACF
determined that court fees collected by Pennsylvania in child
support
cases were required to be treated as income resulting from
services
under the child support enforcement program. Therefore, ACF
concluded
that this income would have reduced Pennsylvania's expenditures
eligible
for FFP by the disallowance amount.
The issue presented by this case was previously raised and addressed
in
Pennsylvania Dept. of Public Welfare, DAB No. 1450 (1993). In
that
decision, the Board found that section 455(a) of the Act and
the
applicable regulations require Pennsylvania to credit against its
IV-D
program expenses the court filing fees at issue. Further, the
Board
found that the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous
and
requires Pennsylvania to exclude from its expenditures claimed for
FFP
any fees which resulted from services provided under the IV-D
state
plan, regardless of which state entity collected the fees and how
the
collected funds are used. Finally, the Board found that the
regulation
at 45 C.F.R. . 304.50(a) simply restates the statute's
requirement, and
that other regulations on which Pennsylvania relied are not
controlling.
Although Pennsylvania disagreed with the Board's analysis in DAB No.
1450,
Pennsylvania requested that the Board issue a summary decision in
this case
based on that decision. ACF also agreed to this course of
action.
We therefore sustain the disallowance of $24,861 based on the
reasoning
and analysis in DAB No. 1450, which we incorporate here in
full.
Cecilia Sparks Ford
M. Terry Johnson
Judith A. Ballard Presiding
Board
Member