Pennsylvania Statutes Title 62 P.S. Poor Persons and Public Welfare § 432.4. Identification and proof of residence

(a) All persons applying for assistance shall provide acceptable identification and proof of residence. A person shall be deemed to be a resident when he or she documents his or her residency and that residency is verified by the department. Verification may include, but is not limited to the production of rent receipts, mortgage payment receipts, utility receipts, bank accounts or enrollment of children in local schools. General assistance applicants must establish that they have been residents of the Commonwealth for at least twelve months immediately preceding their application and they are not receiving assistance from any other state. General assistance applicants shall disclose, in their application, all states in which they have resided and in which they have collected a form of public assistance in the last five years. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to General Assistance applicants who can establish that they moved to this Commonwealth to escape an abusive living situation. The department shall adopt rules governing the proof required to establish that the applicant has moved to this Commonwealth to escape an abusive living situation.

(a.1) When a general assistance applicant provides information that the applicant is receiving a form of public assistance in another state, the department may not authorize general assistance until it receives verification that the public assistance is scheduled to close in the other state.

(b) For the purpose of determining eligibility for assistance, the continued absence of a recipient from the Commonwealth for a period of thirty days or longer shall be prima facie evidence of the intent of the recipient to have changed his residence to a place outside the Commonwealth.

(c) If a recipient is prevented by illness or other good cause from returning to the Commonwealth at the end of thirty days, and has not acted to establish residence elsewhere, he shall not be deemed to have lost his residence in the Commonwealth.

(d) When a recipient of aid to families with dependent children or general assistance is absent from the United States for a period in excess of thirty days, his aid shall thereafter be suspended whenever need cannot be determined for the ensuing period of his absence.

(e) Beginning no later than September 1, 1994, the department shall collect information on all general assistance applicants to determine how long they have been residents of this Commonwealth. The department shall report its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 31, 1995. Based on its findings, the department may make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on changes to the residency requirement for general assistance recipients.