Section 17-678-3 - Monthly assistance allowance for GA and AABD individuals in independent living arrangements or residential treatment facilities(a) The monthly assistance allowance shall be the basic needs expressed in a dollar amount per individual or family. The monthly assistance allowance includes cost for food, household supplies, personal essentials, educational and community activities, laundry, transportation, telephone, household equipment, household repairs, pregnancy diet, and shelter.(b) For a household receiving financial assistance under the aid to the aged, blind or disabled programs, the monthly assistance allowance shall be forty-eight per cent of the standard of need.(c) For a household receiving financial assistance under the general assistance program, the monthly assistance shall be established by the department. (1) The department's goal is to set a monthly assistance allowance, to the extent practicable at the greatest amount of money, excluding the cost of administering the general assistance program, for the greatest number of people within the limits of the appropriation.(2) The monthly assistance allowance shall be a percentage of the standard of need and shall not exceed fifty percent of the standard of need.(3) The monthly assistance allowance shall be computed as follows: (A) Subtract the cost of administering the general assistance program from the appropriation for the following fiscal year; and(B) Determine the initial allowance for the following fiscal year by dividing the average monthly recipient caseload for the most current four months that reflect the actual recipient caseload for which data is available of the current fiscal year into the remaining appropriation for the following fiscal year.(4) The monthly assistance allowance shall be reviewed, and re-computed in accordance with paragraph (3), no less frequently than every four months.(5) Effective April 1, 2005, at the time of the initial computation in paragraph 3 and the review described in paragraph 4: (A) The monthly assistance allowance shall be adjusted if there is a variance of more than ten percent from the average monthly payment for the current month.(B) The monthly assistance allowance may be adjusted, at the department's discretion, if there is a variance of ten percent or less from the average monthly payment for the current month.(6) Any projected balance remaining at the end of the fiscal year shall be distributed, in an equal monthly amount, to all recipients who received benefits in the fiscal year, for each month they received benefits.(d) The monthly assistance allowance amount shall be rounded off to the next lower whole dollar.[Eff 03/19/93, am 3/14/94; am 1/25/97; am 9/26/97; am 2/28/99; am 12/29/05; am 1/17/08; am 8/07/09; am 7/01/10; am 10/09/10] (Auth: HRS §§ 346-53; 346-71) (Imp: 45 C.F.R. §233.20 )