Pennsylvania Statutes Title 62 P.S. Poor Persons and Public Welfare § 414. Assistance Recipient Identification Program

(a) The department is authorized to create, in geographic areas where the department determines it to be cost effective, a program to be known as the Assistance Recipient Identification Program.

(b) The purpose of the program is to eliminate duplication of assistance to recipients, to deter fraud and to assist law enforcement officials in their duties.

(c) Deleted.

(d) A person currently receiving or applying for assistance shall participate in the program. The person shall be identified using available technological means that may include, but are not limited to, two-digit fingerimaging.

(e) The department, wherever feasible, shall work with neighboring states to execute agreements between each of those states and the Commonwealth to implement compatible computer cross-matching identification systems.

(f) It is a violation for a person in the program to acquire or attempt to acquire duplication of assistance.

(g) Absent a court order, only the department, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, the chief of a local municipal police department or his designee within the department, including the sheriff's office in counties of the second class, and the designated officials of neighboring states with whom the department executes agreements under subsection (e) shall have access to records under this program.

(h) The department shall make a report to the General Assembly no later than March 1, 1996, and every two years thereafter. Each report shall include:

(i) As used in this section, the term “program” means the Assistance Recipient Identification Program.