Impacted jurisdictions that have entered into a state IA program grant agreement with the department must allow survivors applying for assistance an opportunity to appeal and allow for reconsideration of application denials as provided in this section.

(1) Number of appeals. In cases where the application has been denied by the county or tribal disaster case worker, survivors may appeal determinations twice.

(2) Deadline to appeal. All deadlines provided in this subsection may be extended by the county or tribal IA appeal officer or by the department for good cause.

(a) First appeal: A survivor must be provided 30 calendar days from the date on the survivor's notification letter to appeal. The survivor's appeal must be postmarked on a physical submission or date-marked on an electronic submission.

(b) Second appeal: If the first appeal is denied, the survivor must be provided an additional 30 calendar days from the date on the appeal denial notification letter to submit a second appeal.

(3) Appeal review process. The declared county or tribal government must designate a person to serve as the county or tribal IA appeal officer. All deadlines provided in this subsection may be extended by the county or tribal IA appeal officer or by the department for good cause.

(a) First appeal: The county or tribal IA appeal officer shall review the appeal and eligibility, make a recommendation, and send the recommendation to the department IA program staff for review and approval. The department must issue a decision granting or denying the appeal within 30 calendar days from date of receipt from the appeal officer.

(b) Second appeal: The county or tribal government must send the second appeal package to the department IA program staff. Department IA program staff will review the second appeal and send the package with a recommendation to the state coordinating officer for final determination. The department must issue a decision granting or denying the appeal within 30 calendar days from date of receipt from the appeal officer.

(4) Reconsiderations.

(a) In cases where a survivor was approved for assistance but needs additional assistance and has not yet reached a maximum award for the program category under review, the survivor may submit a reconsideration request up to the maximum award for that program category if the survivor can provide documentation demonstrating the need for additional assistance.

(b) To process a reconsideration, the local or tribal government disaster case worker reviews the package to determine if the survivor is eligible for additional assistance and works with the survivor to ensure that all necessary documentation is included in the package.

(c) If the survivor meets all general eligibility and program-specific requirements, the case worker then submits the package, confirming all eligibility requirements have been met, to the designated county or tribal IA appeals officer for final determination. If the survivor does not meet all general eligibility and program specific requirements, a determination letter is sent to the survivor by the county or tribal IA appeals officer, detailing which requirements were not met resulting in the ineligibility determination.