§ 132. Investigation of applications. 1. When an application for
assistance or care is received, or a social services official is
informed that a person is in need of public assistance and care, an
investigation and record shall be made of the circumstances of such
person. The object of such investigations shall be to secure the facts
necessary to determine whether such person is in need of public
assistance or care and what form thereof and service he or she should
receive. Information shall be sought as to the residence of such person,
the name, age, religious faith, physical condition, earnings or other
income, and ability to work of all members of the family, the cause of
the person's condition, the ability and willingness of the family,
relatives, friends and church to assist, and such other facts as may be
useful in determining the treatment which will be helpful to such
person. However, nothing in this subdivision or elsewhere in this
chapter contained shall be construed to require a social services
official to communicate with or require assistance from any person or
persons liable by law to contribute to the support of a woman pregnant
with, or the mother of, an out of wedlock child, in need of care away
from home during pregnancy and during and after delivery, in the case
where the surrender of the child to the social services official is
under consideration, for such period as may be necessary for such mother
and official to decide whether the child will be surrendered for
adoption to such official, which period shall not extend beyond ninety
days after birth of the child. Except where the welfare official is in
possession of positive proof that the applicant is receiving or is
eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits and the amount
thereof such investigations shall include written request to the
commissioner of labor or his or her duly authorized officer charged with
administration of the unemployment insurance law for information as to
the status of such person in respect to unemployment insurance benefits.

2. (a) All applications received by a town social services officer
shall be forwarded to the county commissioner immediately and all such
applications shall be investigated by the staff of the county
commissioner. After investigation the county commissioner shall return
to the town social services officer every application for safety net
assistance made by a person residing or found in such town, together
with his or her recommendation as to the eligibility of the applicant
and the amount of assistance to be granted, if any. In addition thereto,
the county commissioner shall keep the town social services officer
currently informed of persons residing in his or her town who are
receiving any form of public assistance and care other than safety net
assistance.

(b) In a city social services district, investigation of applications
shall be made by the city commissioner of social services and his staff.

(c) In a city which is functioning under section seventy-four-a of
this chapter, investigation shall be made by the county commissioner of
social services and his staff.

3. The commissioner of the department of family assistance shall
provide by regulation for methods of determining eligibility for public
assistance and care, other than medical assistance, to be utilized by
all social services officials. Such regulations shall provide for
methods of verifying information supplied by or about recipients with
information contained in the wage reporting system established pursuant
to section one hundred seventy-one-a of the tax law and similar systems
in other geographically contiguous states, and, to the degree mandated
by federal law with the non-wage income file maintained by the United
States internal revenue service, with the benefits and earnings data
exchange maintained by the United States department of health and human
services, and with the unemployment insurance benefit file.

4. (a) Investigation into the cause of the condition of a head of
household or of any adult applicant or recipient and the treatment which
will be helpful to such person shall include a screening for alcohol
and/or substance abuse using a standardized screening instrument to be
developed by the office of addiction services and supports in
consultation with the department. Such screening shall be performed by a
social services district at the time of application and periodically
thereafter but not more frequently than every six months, unless the
district has reason to believe that an applicant or recipient is abusing
or dependent on alcohol or drugs, in accordance with regulations
promulgated by the department. Such screening may be conducted by
telephone or other digital means at the request of the applicant or
recipient.

(b) When the screening process indicates that there is reason to
believe that an applicant or recipient is abusing or dependent on
alcohol or drugs, the social services district shall require a formal
alcohol or substance abuse assessment, which may include drug testing,
to be performed by an alcohol and/or substance abuse professional
credentialed by the office of addiction services and supports. Provided
however, if the applicant or recipient tests positive for the presence
of cannabis, the positive result alone shall not be sufficient to
establish a dependence for purposes of requiring an individual to
participate in a treatment program pursuant to paragraph (c) of this
subdivision. The assessment may be performed directly by the district or
pursuant to contract with the district. Such assessment may be conducted
by telephone or other digital means at the request of the applicant or
recipient.

(c) The social services official shall refer applicants and recipients
whom it determines are presently unable to work by reason of their need
for treatment for alcohol or substance abuse based on the formal
assessment to a treatment program licensed or certified by the office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services or operated by the United States
office of veterans affairs and determined by the social services
official to meet the rehabilitation needs of the individual. When
residential treatment is appropriate for a single custodial parent, the
social services official shall make diligent efforts to refer the parent
to a program that would allow the family to remain intact for the
duration of the treatment.

(d) A person who fails to participate in the screening or in the
assessment shall be ineligible for public assistance. Other members of a
household which includes a person who has failed to participate in the
screening or assessment shall, if otherwise eligible, receive public
assistance only through safety net assistance if they are otherwise
eligible for public assistance.

(e) A person referred to a treatment program pursuant to paragraph (c)
of this subdivision, and the household with which he or she resides
shall receive safety net assistance while the person is participating in
such treatment, if the household is otherwise eligible for public
assistance. If a person referred to treatment cannot participate in that
treatment because treatment is not presently available, that person and
the household with which he or she resides shall receive safety net
assistance if the household is otherwise eligible for public assistance.

(f) If an applicant or recipient is required, pursuant to paragraph
(c) of this subdivision, to participate in an appropriate rehabilitation
program and refuses to participate in such program without good cause or
leaves such program prior to completion of the program without good
cause, provided that program completion shall be solely determined by
the guidelines and rules of such rehabilitation program, or if an
applicant or recipient has been suspended from the receipt of social
security disability benefits or supplemental security income benefits by
reason of noncompliance with requirements of the federal social security
administration for treatment for substance abuse or alcohol abuse, the
person will be disqualified from receiving public assistance as follows:

(i) for the first failure to participate in or complete the program,
until the failure ceases or for forty-five days, whichever period of
time is longer;

(ii) for the second such failure, until the failure ceases or for one
hundred twenty days, whichever period of time is longer; and

(iii) for the third and subsequent failures, until the failure ceases
or for one hundred eighty days, whichever period is longer.

Good cause shall be defined in regulations by the commissioner.

The household with which the person resides shall continue to receive
safety net assistance if otherwise eligible.

(g) Persons disqualified from receiving public assistance pursuant to
paragraph (f) of this subdivision who would otherwise be eligible for
public assistance and who return to required treatment prior to the end
of the disqualification period and are receiving residential care as
defined in paragraph (d) of subdivision three of section two hundred
nine of this chapter shall be eligible for safety net assistance.

(h) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of section one hundred
thirty-one-o of this article, if a recipient required to participate in
an appropriate treatment program pursuant to paragraph (c) of this
subdivision receives a personal needs allowance, such allowance shall be
made as a restricted payment to the treatment program and shall be a
conditional payment. If such recipient leaves the treatment program
prior to the completion of such program, any accumulated personal needs
allowance will be considered an overpayment and returned to the social
services district which provided the personal needs allowance.

(i) Compliance with the provisions of this subdivision shall not be
required as a condition of applying for or receiving medical assistance.