Sec. 31-51yy. Eligibility. Duties of community-based organizations and financial institutions. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 31-51yy. Eligibility. Duties of community-based organizations and financial institutions. (a) An individual who has earned income, and who is a member of a household whose adjusted gross income is not in excess of eighty per cent of the area median household income for the area where such individual resides, is eligible to participate in a certified state IDA program for the purpose of accumulating and withdrawing moneys for purposes specified in subsection (a) of section 31-51xx; except that, if an individual does not have earned income solely due to a qualified disability, the earned income requirement shall not apply to such individual.

      (b) Each community-based organization operating a certified state IDA program shall establish, through written governing instruments with a qualified financial institution: (1) A trust or custodial account on behalf of each account holder in its program into which the account holder shall deposit savings, which accounts shall conform to the requirements of the federal Assets for Independence Act, P.A. 105-285; and (2) a separate local reserve fund into which the department shall deposit funds from the Individual Development Account Reserve Fund and into which the community-based organization shall deposit funds received from the certified state IDA program from any other source. The community-based organization shall certify to the department, on forms prescribed by the department and accompanied by any documentation required by the department, that such accounts have been established pursuant to the provisions of sections 31-51ww to 31-51eee, inclusive, and that deposits have been made to an account by or on behalf of the account holder.

      (c) A financial institution establishing a trust or custodial account on behalf of an account holder shall: (1) Permit deposits to be made in the account by the account holder; and (2) pay a market rate of interest on the account.

      (d) The community-based organization shall determine and monitor the earned income levels of all account holders in its certified state IDA program and shall use its best efforts to ensure that at least thirty per cent of such account holders have earned income at or below two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level.

      (P.A. 00-192, S. 3, 102.)

      History: P.A. 00-192 effective January 1, 2001.