WAC 388-412-0015 General information about your food assistance allotments.

1. Your monthly allotment under the Washington Basic Food program, food assistance program for legal immigrants (FAP), Washington combined application project (WASHCAP), or the transitional food assistance (TFA) programs is the total dollar value of benefits your assistance unit (AU) receives for a calendar month.
2. How we determine your monthly allotment:
   1. We calculate your monthly allotment for federally-funded Basic Food as described under WAC 388-450-0162.
   2. We calculate your monthly allotment for state-funded food assistance as described under WAC 388-400-0050.
3. Maximum allotment:
   1. The maximum allotment for the number of people in your AU eligible for federally-funded Basic Food benefits is described under WAC 388-478-0060.
   2. The maximum allotment for the number of people in your AU eligible for state-funded FAP benefits is set by the legislature in the biennial operating budget as described in WAC 388-400-0050.
4. Prorated benefits in the first month - If we determine you are eligible for food assistance, your first month's benefits are calculated from the date you applied through the end of the month of your application.  This is called proration and is based on a thirty-day month:
   1. If your prorated benefits for the first month are under ten dollars, you will not receive an allotment for the first month.
   2. If there was a delay in processing your application, we determine when your benefits start under WAC 388-406-0055.
5. Combined allotment for first and second month's benefits - If you apply for benefits on or after the sixteenth of the month, and we determine you are eligible for food assistance, we issue both the first and second months benefits in one allotment if you are eligible for both months.
6. Minimum allotment - Unless it is the first month of your certification period and your benefits are prorated as described in subsection (4) of this section, your monthly allotment will be at least:
   1. Sixteen dollars if your AU has one or two members, and at least one persons is eligible for federally-funded Basic Food.
   2. Eight dollars if your AU has one or two members, and all members of your AU are eligible for state-funded FAP.
7. Use of food assistance benefits - Your food assistance benefits may only be used to buy eligible food items as described under WAC 388-412-0046.  If you use your benefits in any other way, it is an intentional program violation under WAC 388-446-0015 and could result in fines, imprisonment, disqualification from receiving food assistance benefits, or any combination of these penalties.