Jones v. Commonwealth
Jones v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Joyce L. Jones has appealed from order of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) affirming a decision of the Lycoming County Board of Assistance (CBA) increasing the amount that Ms. Jones must pay for food stamps. We affirm.
Ms. Jones, a public assistance recipient, is a student at Lycoming College. She receives various forms of student aid to enable her to meet her college expenses. One such form of aid is an $80 per semester college bookstore credit provided by the Bureau of Yocational Rehabilitation (BYR) for the 1978-79 school year. The bookstore credit is paid by BVR directly to the college bookstore and Ms. Jones does not receive any portion of the credit which remains unused at the end of the school term.
Ms. Jones is also a participant in the food stamp program, which was established under the Food Stamp Act of 1964, 7 U.S.C. §2011 et seq.
[p]ayments in money, except for those for medical costs, made on behalf of the household by a person other than a member of the household. Such payments may be made by a private or government sources. To qualify as a vendor payment, there must be an identifiable payment on the household’s behalf, the major benefit from which accrues to the household rather than the payer. If there is no identifiable payment or if the major benefit from such payment accrues to the payer and not the household, such benefits shall be considered income in-kind and not income to the household. (Formerly found at PAEM §3753.72210).2
See also 7 C.F.R. §271.3(c) (1) (i) (h) (1975) (Former regulation promulgated under the Food Stamp Act of 1964). As noted, DPW upheld CBA’s decision.
Although Ms. Jones characterizes the college bookstore credit as an “in-kind grant”, we do not understand her to argue that the credit is not a vendor pay
Ms. Jones does claim that consideration of the college bookstore credit as a vendor payment and therefore income is contrary to Section 2014(d) of the Food Stamp Act, 7 TLS.C. §2014(d), as amended by the Food Stamp Act of 1977, 7 TLS.C. §2014(d) (1978-79 Supp.). This section of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 eliminated the concept of vendor payments as income. However, Section 1303(a) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (reprinted at note to 7 TJ.S.C. §2011 (1978-79 Supp.)), provides that provisions of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 which are relevant to regulations promulgated under that Act shall remain in effect until the regulations are revoked, superseded, amended or modified by regulations issued under the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Since regulations were not promulgated under the 1977 Act until March 1, 1979, see 43 Fed. Eeg. 47, 884, the present action, which was instituted in September of 1978, therefore proceeds under the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and its regulations, which allows the inclusion of vendor payments in determin
Mrs. Jones also contends that a household’s purchasing power must be increased before funds such as her college bookstore credit can be considered as income for food stamp purposes. See Dean v. Butz, 428 F. Supp. 477 (D. Haw. 1977). The credit here meets this requirement, for it permits money which would be spent by Ms. Jones on college books and supplies to be spent on food.
Accordingly, we enter the following:
Order
And Now, this 10th day of March, 1980, the order of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare denying the appeal of Joyce L. Jones from the determination of the Lycoming County Board of Assistance is affirmed.
The Food Stamp Act of 1964 was extensively amended by the Food Stamp Act of 1977, 7 U.S.C. §2011 et seq. (1978-79 Supp.).
Ms. Jones and her daughter constituted the “household” for purposes of the food stamp program. See former DPW regulation found at PAEM §3752.41 (A). Since a household is there defined as [a] group of individuals who are living as one economic unit . . . sharing common cooking facilities”, we are justified in viewing a payment made in Ms. Jones’ behalf as equivalent to a payment made to the household.
At oral argument, Ms. Jones directed our attention to Lakeside v. Public Welfare Division, 22 Or. App. 392, 539 P.2d 1132 (1975). In Lakeside, the Oregon Court of Appeals held that vendor payments similar to those involved in this case were not considered income because 7 C.F.R. §271.3(c) (1) (ii) (c) (1975) (Former regulation promulgated under the Food Stamp Act of 1964) provided that income does not include “[a]ny gain or benefit which is not money.” However, the Oregon Court’s opinion makes no mention of 7 O.F.R. §271.3(c) (1) (i) (h) (1975) (Former regulation promulgated under the Food Stamp Act of 1964), which explicitly requires that vendor payments be included as income, and it could well be that regulation was not brought to that court’s attention. We are not persuaded by that decision.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.