Information on administering Public Benefits in Georgia
As mandated by the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006
Section 9 of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act requires all state agencies that administer “public benefits” to obtain a sworn affidavit from all applicants for public benefits regarding citizenship and/or lawful presence/alien status.
It is recommended that any applicant indicating non-citizen status be required to enter his/her Alien Number - assigned by the federal government - on the affidavit.
All non-citizens eligibility for public benefits must be verified using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
NOTE! Section 2 of the Act mandates use of the federal E-Verify system (which is a part of the SAVE program) to verify eligibility of newly hired employees' eligibility to work in the U.S. This is a separate mandate and will produce a separate agreement – MOA/MOU with the federal government. Possessing E-Verify user authority does not address or fulfill the requirements in Section 9, which are directed at public benefits...not employment verification.
Public benefits are defined in the Act by existing federal law, by both 8 USC 1611 and 8 USC 1621. The definition in both laws is:
“(A) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government; and
(B) any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government.”
When a state or local government agency representative registers for authority to use the SAVE system - and before it is able to obtain a user agreement (a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)) with the federal government to verify applicants’ eligibility for various public benefits, that representative must choose which public benefits the agency administers to obtain authority to verify applicants eligibility for those specific benefits.
Many Georgia municipalities and counties will have multiple agencies that are administering public benefits. Examples, Housing authority, Board of Education, Section 8 Housing, Tax Commissioner (Homestead Exemptions)... Each agency administering any of the Public Benefits listed below is required under the Act to register with and use SAVE to insure applicants eligibility.
Please note again: Homestead Exemptions are included on the below list of Public Benefits, accordingly, each county Tax Commissioner should have been using the mandated affidavits and verifying alien eligibility using the SAVE database since 1 July, 2007. ALSO: Each entity in all local governments will be required to submit to DHS/SAVE exact code that authorizes it to administer that benefit.
Below are the 84 choices on the list from the drop-down list on the SAVE registration Website as of July 22, 2008.
Note...if the user were to check only “Community Transportation” – that agency could not be within the federal regulations to verify applicant’s eligibility for “Rent Assistance” or any of the other benefits listed. It is very important to register correctly and accurately.
Adoption Asst.
Adult Education
Agency Class License
Airport Badges
Background Invest
Boarding Home Care
Cash Assistance
Child Care
Chip
Choose-To-Work
CI CP
Civilian License
Commercial License
Community Education
Community Transportation
County General Asst.
Crew Vetting
Disability Insurance
Disability Asst.
Disaster Asst.
Down Payment Asst.
Emergency Assistance
Employment
Energy Assistance
Expense Voucher
Fed Relocation Grant
Fire Alarm License
Food Stamps
Foster Care
Gaming License
Government Badges
GSA Contract Empl
HAZMAT Endorsement
Health
Homestead Exemption
Housing Assistance
Law Enforcement Veri
Medicaid
Medicare
Merchant Mariner Doc
Military Service
NASA Contractor Empl
Occupational License
Old Age Pension
Original SSN
Perm Fund Dividend
Professional License
Rebates
Refugee Assistance
Registered Traveler
Rent Assistance
Replacement SSN
Retirement Insurance
Section 8 Rental Subsidy
Small Business Loans
SSI
SSN
State Financial Asst.
State General Asst.
State Grant
State ID Cards
State Loan
State Supplement
Survivors Insurance
T 16
T 16 PE
T 18
T 2
T 2 PE
TANF
Territorial Assistance
Trade Act
Training
TWIC
Unemployment Insurance
USDA Farm Loan
SUDA Housing Grants
SUDA Housing Loans
USDA Housing Guarantee
USDA Loan Guarantee
USDA Rent Assistance
Voter Registration
Welfare to Work
Workers Compensation
Workforce Investment Act