b. Verifying Community Engagement When Conducting More Frequent Verifications Between Regularly Scheduled Redeterminations

Importantly, States that elect to verify compliance between regular renewals as provided at § 435.557(d) must comply with all ex parte verification requirements under section 1902(xx)(5) of the Act, as implemented in this IFC. As specified at § 435.557(d)(1), States that elect this option may not conduct a more limited verification between renewals but must instead comply with all the requirements described in this section. In accordance with § 435.557(d)(2), the State must first check all reliable information available to the State to confirm the individual is not a specified excluded individual. After verifying the individual is not excluded, § 435.557(d)(3) requires that the State must attempt to verify that the individual demonstrated community engagement or was deemed to have demonstrated community engagement using all reliable information available to the State for all relevant months before requesting initiating noncompliance procedures. In other words, the agency must attempt to verify compliance or deemed compliance in the same manner that it would when verifying eligibility at application or renewal, regardless of the basis on which the individual was determined to be in compliance with the community engagement requirement at enrollment or the last verification, before requesting information from the individual or initiating noncompliance procedures in accordance with § 435.558. We also stress that, while the State must confirm whether an individual is a specified excluded individual as part of the more frequent verification process, more frequent verifications are specific to applicable individuals. Thus, consistent with § 435.557(d)(4), individuals identified as specified excluded individuals during their most recent verification are not subject to more frequent verifications, unless the State has information indicating the individual is no longer a specified excluded individual, or that the individual may be losing their status as a specified excluded individual due to an anticipated change, such as turning age 19, as further discussed in section II.H.d.2. of this IFC.

When a State cannot verify that an applicable individual has demonstrated or is deemed to have demonstrated community engagement for a required month using reliable information available to the State, the State must comply with the requirements at § 435.557(b)(2) and seek additional information from the individual to verify their continued eligibility.