INITIAL ESTABLISHMENT AND RECERTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN PERSONS.

(a) In administering the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the commission shall, except as provided by Subsection (c) and Section 33.019, allow a person to comply with initial eligibility requirements, including any initial interview, and with subsequent periodic eligibility recertification requirements by telephone instead of through a personal appearance at commission offices if:

(1) the person and each member of the person's household:

(A) have no earned income; and

(B) are elderly or persons with disabilities; or

(2) the person is subject to a hardship, as determined by commission rule.

(b) For purposes of rules under Subsection (a)(2), a hardship includes a situation in which a person is prevented from personally appearing at commission offices because the person is:

(1) subject to a work or training schedule;

(2) subject to transportation difficulties;

(3) subject to other difficulties arising from the person's residency in a rural area;

(4) subject to prolonged severe weather;

(5) ill; or

(6) needed to care for a member of the person's household.

(c) The commission may require a person described by Subsection (a) to personally appear at commission offices to establish initial eligibility or to comply with periodic eligibility recertification requirements if the commission considers a personal appearance necessary to:

(1) protect the integrity of the supplemental nutrition assistance program; or

(2) prevent an adverse determination regarding the person's eligibility that would be less likely to occur if the person made a personal appearance.

(d) A person described by Subsection (a) may elect to personally appear at commission offices to establish initial eligibility or to comply with periodic eligibility recertification requirements.

(e) The commission shall require a person exempted under this section from making a personal appearance at commission offices to provide verification of the person's entitlement to the exemption on initial eligibility certification and on each subsequent periodic eligibility recertification. If the person does not provide verification and the commission considers the verification necessary to protect the integrity of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the commission shall initiate a fraud referral to the commission's office of inspector general.