[PavelMakarchuk]

Summary

Michigan, Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland pay nothing when the monthly amount is under $10; PolicyEngine paid any positive amount. This PR adds a minimum_payment parameter ($10) to each program, as Illinois, Nevada and Missouri have.

• Michigan FIP. BEM 518 (7-1-2023): "Financial need exists if: There is at least a $10 deficit after income is budgeted in the issuance deficit test"; at application the group must also pass the qualifying deficit test. mi_fip_income_eligible now requires an issuance deficit (payment standard less mi_fip_countable_income_for_benefit) of at least $10 for every group, plus the qualifying test for groups that are not enrolled. Before, enrolled groups needed any positive deficit and applicants only the qualifying test. mi_fip only gets a corrected comment.
• Virginia TANF. TANF Manual 502.1 A: the payment is the budgetary deficiency "adjusted to the next lower dollar"; A.2 "If the budgetary deficiency is less than $10.00, no payment is made," and the case stays active. va_tanf now rounds the capped payment down to whole dollars and returns 0 under $10. va_tanf_eligibility is unchanged.
• South Carolina TANF. S.C. Code Regs. 114-1140(A)(5): "no payment of assistance shall be made to an assistance unit in any month in which the amount of assistance prior to any adjustments is determined to be less than ten dollars"; TANF Policy Manual vol. 65, 8.16 I. sc_tanf returns 0 under $10. (The TANF supplemental payment that 8.16 I lets count toward the $10 is not modeled.)
• Maryland TCA. COMAR 07.03.03.13 E(2): "The assistance unit shall be issued a benefit if determined to be eligible for $10 or more." md_tca returns 0 under $10.

Mississippi's $10 minimum is in #10209 and is not part of this PR.

Not changed here: South Carolina's rounding down to whole dollars (114-1140(A)(4)) and Maryland's rounding of net countable income down (COMAR 07.03.03.13 E(1)) are outside the issue.

Parameter start dates follow each program's existing parameters from the same source (MI 2008-10-01, SC 1996-07-01, MD 2016-01-01); Virginia's is 2020-07-01, the date of the 502.1 page.

Tests

• Virginia va_tanf.yaml: four new monthly cases (deficiency of $2.44 and $9.99 pays $0, exactly $10 pays $10, $381.635 pays $381). The 2023 "small payment is still paid" case ($8.33 a month) now expects $0. One case's inputs change from $10,000 / $4,000 to $12,000 / $6,000 a year so the monthly amounts are exact and the rounding does not drop a float32 cent. Five integration.yaml results are rounded down (for example $191.60 to $191).
• Michigan: four mi_fip_income_eligible.yaml cases (enrolled $8 deficit fails, enrolled $10 passes, applicant passing the qualifying test with an $8 issuance deficit fails, applicant passing both passes) and one integration case (the issue's repro: $1,356 a month of earnings, family of 3, deficit $5, mi_fip = $0).
• South Carolina sc_tanf.yaml: a benefit of $4.72 pays $0, $12.81 is paid (households of two people, so the cases also hold with Count South Carolina TANF unearned income at gross amounts and leave SSI recipients out of the benefit group #10184's benefit group size).
• Maryland md_tca.yaml: $4.80 pays $0, exactly $10 is paid.
• The new non-control cases fail on main. policyengine-core test on the four program folders: 267 passed; MD MEAP and gov/hhs/tanf tests also pass.

Overlap: the fix PRs for #9986 (#10247) and #9987 (#10253) also change Virginia TANF. This PR edits other lines of va_tanf.py, va_tanf.yaml and integration.yaml; its edit to the "If up tanf eligible" case in va_tanf.yaml is identical to #10253's. A trial merge of the three branches is clean, and the four program folders pass on the merged tree (279 tests). #10184 (open) changes other lines of sc_tanf.py.

Fixes #9985

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[DTrim99]

PR Review: Apply the $10 minimum payment in Michigan FIP, Virginia TANF, South Carolina TANF and Maryland TCA

Summary

The PR adds a minimum_payment parameter ($10 a month) to four programs and applies it:

• Michigan FIP. mi_fip_income_eligible now requires an issuance deficit (payment standard less mi_fip_countable_income_for_benefit) of at least $10 for every group. Groups that are not enrolled must also pass the qualifying deficit test. Before, enrolled groups needed any positive deficit and applicants only the qualifying test. mi_fip only gets a corrected comment.
• Virginia TANF. va_tanf now rounds the capped payment down to whole dollars and returns 0 under $10. va_tanf_eligibility is unchanged.
• South Carolina TANF and Maryland TCA. sc_tanf and md_tca return 0 when the benefit is under $10.

It also adds 4 + 1 + 4 + 2 + 2 YAML cases, edits 3 va_tanf.yaml cases, re-rounds 5 Virginia integration results, and adds a fixed changelog fragment. No partner test file (tests/policy/baseline/partners/**) is touched.

• Law. All four minimums are right in every claimed year. None of them rounds the payment up:
  • Michigan. BEM 518 (7-1-2023, and the same text in the 10-1-2015 edition): "at least a $10 deficit". At application the group also needs the qualifying deficit, so it must pass both tests. A deficit under $10 means no financial need, so the group is ineligible.
  • Virginia. TANF Manual 502.1 A: the payment is the deficiency "adjusted to the next lower dollar". "If the budgetary deficiency is less than $10.00, no payment is made", and the case stays active.
  • South Carolina. S.C. Code Regs. 114-1140(A)(5): no payment when the amount is "less than ten dollars". TANF Policy Manual 8.16 I says the same.
  • Maryland. COMAR 07.03.03.13 E(2): issue a benefit "if determined to be eligible for $10 or more".
• Boundary. "Less than $10" is strict in every source. The code's >= p.minimum_payment pays exactly $10, which is right in all four states.
• Who stays eligible. VA, SC and MD units stay eligible with a $0 payment, and MI groups become ineligible. Each matches its rule.
• Code. The code is vectorized, and the new parameters are scalars. No state-gated variable is used as a parameter key, so the NH Add New Hampshire state supplementation for 2026 #10156 pattern doesn't apply.
• Tests. I hand-checked 27 expectations. All are arithmetically right for their inputs.
• CI. All 27 checks pass. The one earlier cancellation was a 1-hour timeout (infrastructure).
• Branch. The merge with main is clean.

Three things need fixing:

1. The edited TANF-UP case in va_tanf.yaml now asserts that the UP grant standard applies in 2021. The approved Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253 shows that this contradicts the Appropriation Act floor, and the two PRs now conflict. The body's overlap paragraph ("identical to Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253's", "a trial merge of the three branches is clean") is out of date.
2. Virginia's new whole-dollar floor is applied to the model's fractional standards (417 × 1.155 = 481.635), so most payments from July 2021 on land $1-$2 below the printed standards. A no-income Group II family of 3 gets $481 where the manual pays $482. The new 2025 rounding test pins $381 where the rule gives $382.
3. The axiom: line is missing.

Critical (must fix)

None.

Should address

1. The edited TANF-UP case conflicts with the approved #10253, both textually and on the law, and the body's overlap claim is out of date.

va_tanf.yaml:27-40 renames the old 2023 UP case to "If up tanf eligible before July 2022, the UP grant standard applies." It then pins $1,200 for 2021, with TANF grant standard 0 and UP grant standard 2,400. The body says this edit "is identical to #10253's" and that "a trial merge of the three branches is clean ... (279 tests)".

That held against #10253's earlier head (8738598107, "from July 2022"). On 2026-10-26 #10253 pushed 9bb2dc4f7f, "Give Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards in every year", and DTrim99 approved that head the same day. The two PRs now disagree on the law and on the file:

• Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253's head. It adds payment/up_grant_standard/in_effect = false from 1996, citing the 2020 Appropriation Act, Item 350 C: two-parent payments "shall not be less than what they would have received under TANF". It replaces this same case with "In 2021 a TANF-UP unit gets the TANF grant standard." plus a January 2020 case.
• Textual conflict. git merge-tree of (main + this PR) with 9bb2dc4f7f conflicts in va_tanf.yaml, in exactly this case.
• The law. Under Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253, this PR's case gives $0, not $1,200, because the TANF grant standard input is 0. If this PR merges first, main would carry a test that states, as Virginia's rule, the 2021 UP-standard payment that the approved Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253 shows the statute forbids.

Fix:

• If Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253 merges first (it is approved), merge main and keep Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253's two TANF-UP cases in place of this edit. Both still pass with the floor and the minimum: $100 a month gives $1,200, and $300 gives $300.
• If this PR merges first, make the case neutral, for example by setting both standards to 2,400 (period 2021, countable income 1,200, result $1,200). Rename it so it doesn't say which standard applies.
• Either way, update the body's "Overlap" paragraph.

2. The new floor drops the cents of Virginia's fractional standards. Most payments land $1-$2 under the printed amounts, and the new 2025 test pins one.

The floor at va_tanf.py:48 is what 502.1 A requires. The trouble is the standard it is applied to. va_tanf_grant_standard (unchanged) multiplies the 7/20 base table by standard_multiplier: 1.1 from July 2021 and 1.155 from July 2022. That leaves cents. VDSS instead rounds up after each increase and prints whole dollars: TANF Manual Section 304, Appendix 2 (7/22), Group II file page 29 and Group III file page 30. The rule floors (printed standard − income). The PR floors (fractional standard − income), so the standard's fraction is dropped as well.

Unit, no countable income, 2025	Printed 7/22 standard (rule)	main	PR
Group II, 1 person	262	261.03	261
Group II, 2	385	383.46	383
Group II, 3	482	481.635	481
Group II, 4	577	576.345	576
Group III, 2	489	487.41	487
Group III, 3	587	586.74	586

The evidence:

• The manual's own example. 502.2 A, Example 1 (Chapter 500, file page 4, 7/22): a Group II mother and two children with no income, "$482.00 = payment amount for full month's payment". The PR pays $481, and main pays $481.64.
• The new test. "The payment is rounded down to the next lower dollar." (va_tanf.yaml, 2025-01, Pittsylvania) uses va_tanf_grant_standard: 481.635, the model's Group II size-3 standard, and pins $381. With the printed $482 standard, the rule pays 482 − 100 = $382.
• Already known. Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253's body records the sub-dollar gap as a known limitation ("standards up to $1 below the printed amounts (VDSS rounds up after each year's increase)"). rulespec-us#1921 lists the printed 7/20, 7/21 and 7/22 values.
• What the floor changes. It turns that $0.03-$1.59 gap into a $1-$2 underpayment for no-income units and for units whose income is in whole dollars.
• Not affected. The 2021-01 integration cases use multiplier 1.0, so their standards are whole dollars and their floored results match the rule.

Fix (either):

• (a) Preferred: give the floor whole-dollar standards.
  • Rounding up after each increase (×1.1, round up, ×1.05, round up) reproduces every printed 7/22 standard in both groups, the $95 add-on and both maximums ($723 and $861). For example, 417 → 458.7 → 459 → 481.95 → 482, and 625 → 687.5 → 688 → 722.4 → 723.
  • The plainest way is to store the printed 7/21 and 7/22 Appendix 2 values as dated entries, as rulespec-us#1921 tabulates them.
  • A single np.ceil(base_amount * p.standard_multiplier) gets $482 right but leaves some sizes $1 low (Group II size 2: 384 against 385).
• (b) Keep the scope.
  • Say in the body that, with the model's fractional standards, the floor pays $1-$2 below the printed Appendix 2 amounts from July 2021 on, and link a follow-up issue.
  • Change the 2025 test's grant standard to a whole-dollar amount, for example 482 with countable income 100.40, which gives 381.60 and so $381. The test then pins the floor on income cents, which is what 502.1 A rounds.

3. Add the axiom: line to the PR body.

The body (head b92c4eae5e, last updated 2026-10-23) doesn't mention axiom in any format. Pavel is staff and this is a policy fix, so the line is required, and axiom: needed isn't available. encoded-correct isn't available either (see "Axiom line assessment").

Suggestions

1. South Carolina and Maryland rounding (the body defers both). Add a test comment, open a follow-up issue, and note the boundary effect:
   • South Carolina, 114-1140(A)(4) (file page 210): "The FI benefit will be rounded down to the next lower whole dollar when the result of determining the standard of need or the payment amount is not a whole dollar."
     • Manual 8.15 (file page 132) prints a need standard of $851 for 2 people, and a payment standard of $344 ("multiply the Need Standard by .4046 and drop the cents").
     • New Case 5 pins $12.81. The rule gives (851 − 820) × 0.4046 = 12.54, so $12.
     • Near the threshold the result flips. At countable income $826.80, PE pays (851.67 − 826.80) × 0.4046 = $10.06, but the rule gives ⌊(851 − 826.80) × 0.4046⌋ = ⌊9.79⌋ = $9, so $0.
     • A comment in Case 5 would record this, for example # The rule rounds the need standard and benefit down (114-1140(A)(4)): (851 - 820) * 0.4046 = 12.54, so $12.
   • Maryland, COMAR 07.03.03.13 E(1): "deducting the net countable income, rounded down to the nearest dollar". With an allowable amount of $448 and countable income of $438.50, PE pays $0 (9.50), but the rule pays 448 − 438 = $10.
   • E(1) and (A)(4) sit right next to the provisions this PR encodes, so folding them in is also reasonable.
   • Michigan (lower priority). BEM 520 (file page 1) says "Drop cents before entering any amount used to compute the issuance amount on the worksheet". That would make a PE deficit of $9.01-$9.99 a $10 worksheet deficit. The same page also says "Cents amounts are included when computing recouped, vendored and benefit amounts", so this is less clear. It is worth a line in the follow-up.
2. Make the Virginia floor float-safe. Use np.floor(np.round(min_(payment, maximum), 2)). snap_net_income.py already does this (np.floor(np.round(net_income, 2) + 0.5)), and so do the IRA limit variables.
   • The body explains that one test's inputs were changed because 10,000 / 12 − 4,000 / 12 floors to $499 in float32.
   • In microsimulation, countable income comes from annual amounts divided by 12, so real households can lose the same $1.
3. Add a South Carolina near-boundary pair, like Virginia's $9.99 / $10. SC is the only state without a case near $10. For 2 people in 2025-01:
   • countable income 826.98 gives (851.67 − 826.98) × 0.4046 = 9.99, so 0;
   • countable income 826.90 gives 10.02, which is paid.
4. References.
   • mi/mdhhs/fip/minimum_payment.yaml lists BEM 518 twice (#page=2 and #page=4). CLAUDE.md says: "One reference entry per source document; URLs that differ only by #page= are one source", and a multi-page title "ends with #page 72-75". Use one entry: href #page=2, title "Michigan DHHS BEM 518 - FIP/RCA/SDA Income Budgeting, Financial Need #page 2-4". Page 3 has "a deficit less than $10".
   • The variable reference tuples don't cite the new rules:
     • va_tanf: add Chapter 500 #page=3.
     • sc_tanf: add Chapter 114 #page=210.
     • md_tca: add .13.
     • mi_fip_income_eligible: it cites BEM 518 #page=5 (deductions); add #page=2 with a # PDF pages 2-4 comment.

Verified correct

• Rule text and years:
  • Michigan BEM 518 (7-1-2023).
    • File page 2: "Financial need exists if: There is at least a $10 deficit after income is budgeted in the issuance deficit test ... Exception: At application, the certified group must have a deficit of at least $1 in the qualifying deficit test".
    • File page 1: need exists "when the certified group passes the Qualifying Deficit Test, Issuance Deficit Test and the Child Support Income Test".
    • File page 3: "ineligible for the benefit month if no deficit exists or the group has a deficit less than $10".
    • File page 4: "If the deficit is less than $10, no financial need exists and the group is not eligible to receive benefit."
    • The 10-1-2015 edition (BPB 2015-015, Wayback) has the same text on pages 2-4. That covers every year from 2017, when the MI payment standards begin.
  • Virginia TANF Manual 502.1 A (Chapter 500, file page 3, 7/20, Transmittal 68, still current): the deficiency "adjusted to the next lower dollar"; "If the budgetary deficiency is less than $10.00, no payment is made. However, if an assistance unit's ineligibility is based solely on this minimum payment provision, the case will be approved and retained as an active TANF case."
    • 22VAC40-295 has no minimum-payment or rounding text (I checked sections 10-170), so the manual is the right source.
  • South Carolina 114-1140(A)(5)-(6) (file page 210; history 1995, 1997, 2002):
    • "no payment of assistance shall be made to an assistance unit in any month in which the amount of assistance prior to any adjustments is determined to be less than ten dollars";
    • a unit denied for this reason "shall be deemed a recipient for all other purposes".
    • Manual 8.16 I (file page 133): "No TANF cash benefits are made for less than $10, unless when combined with a TANF supplemental payment the two total $10 or more". The body notes the supplemental payment as not modeled.
  • Maryland COMAR 07.03.03.13 (DSD page):
    • E(2): "The assistance unit shall be issued a benefit if determined to be eligible for $10 or more."
    • A(2): "Each member of the assistance unit is considered to be a recipient of FIP even though no cash assistance is paid."
• Boundary and order of operations:
  • "At least $10", "less than $10.00", "less than ten dollars" and "$10 or more" all pay exactly $10. >= p.minimum_payment does that in all four states.
  • Virginia. Applying the floor and the $10 test after the cap is the same as applying them to the deficiency. The maximum is a whole dollar of at least $599, so floor(min(p, M)) = min(floor(p), M), and that is at least 10 exactly when p is.
  • Michigan. The issuance test uses the 50% disregard and the benefit-month payment standard (BEM 518 page 3, BEM 520 Section D). Applicants need both tests. passes_issuance_test & (enrolled | passes_qualifying_test) encodes this. The qualifying test's < is the same as "at least $1" for whole-dollar payment standards.
  • South Carolina and Maryland. The minimum is applied to (need − net income) × 40.46% (8.16 H-I) and to allowable − countable income.
• Interactions on the merged trees:
  • main + this PR + Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253 (9bb2dc4f7f). va_tanf.py auto-merges correctly: the grant uses uses_up_standards, then the floor and the minimum. The integration.yaml results (191, 240, 589, 198, 408, 745, 300, 372, 57, 417, 209, 861) are all whole dollars. The only conflict is Should 1.
  • Adding Use the SNAP standard deduction in effect for Virginia TANF earnings #10247 (77eca9d6d3). It merges cleanly. It changes only the earned-income deduction, doesn't edit integration.yaml, and its CI passed. So the 2021-01 countable incomes that this PR floors don't change.
  • Count South Carolina TANF unearned income at gross amounts and leave SSI recipients out of the benefit group #10184 (South Carolina). sc_tanf.py and sc_tanf.yaml auto-merge. The merged formula reads sc_tanf_need_standard and applies the minimum. Cases 4-5 use 2-person units, as the body says.
• Code:
  • where, np.floor, min_ and the boolean &/| are vectorized.
  • The new parameters are scalars, and no state-gated variable is used as a key (NH Add New Hampshire state supplementation for 2026 #10156 doesn't apply).
  • The PR doesn't touch income definitions, so the OK Add Oklahoma state supplementation for 2026 #10165 and Document disjoint health premium inputs and correct consumer treatment #10046 wage and premium checks don't apply.
• Callers. va_tanf, sc_tanf, md_tca and mi_fip feed only tanf_if_takes_up. mi_fip_income_eligible feeds only mi_fip_eligible, which only mi_fip reads. Eligibility stays true for VA, SC and MD, as their rules require.
• Hand-checked expectations (27):
  • va_tanf.yaml:
    • 2023: 2,100 / 12 − 2,000 / 12 = 8.33 a month, which floors to 8 < 10, so 0.
    • The 2021 UP case: (2,400 − 1,200) / 12 = 100 a month, under the maximum, so 1,200 under main's formula (see Should 1).
    • 12,000 / 12 − 6,000 / 12 = 500, so 6,000.
    • 481.635 − 479.20 = 2.435, so 0.
    • 500 − 490.01 = 9.99, so 0.
    • 500 − 490 = 10, so 10.
    • 481.635 − 100 = 381.635, so 381 (Should 2).
    • The unchanged cases stay right: 4,000 − 4,000 = 0; 6,000 / 12 = 500, so 6,000; the caps 12 × 861 = 10,332 and 12 × 722 = 8,664; and 700 a month, so 8,400.
  • Virginia integration.yaml (2021-01, whole-dollar standards):
    • 508 − 316.40 = 191.60, so 191;
    • 332 − 91.40 = 240.60, so 240;
    • 332 − 133.07 = 198.93, so 198;
    • 417 − 116.40 = 300.60, so 300;
    • 316 − 106.40 = 209.60, so 209.
  • mi_fip_income_eligible.yaml:
    • 583 − 575 = 8, so false.
    • 583 − 573 = 10, so true.
    • An applicant with a qualifying deficit of 3 and an issuance deficit of 8: false.
    • An applicant with 3 and 83: true.
    • The existing applicant cases still pass the new issuance test: $400 → 363 − 100 = 263; $814 → 583 − 307 = 276; $825 → 583 − 312.50 = 270.50.
  • Michigan integration.yaml Case 16: 16,272 / 12 = 1,356, and 1,356 − (200 + 0.5 × 1,156) = 578. The deficit is 583 − 578 = 5, so mi_fip_income_eligible and mi_fip_eligible are false and mi_fip is 0.
  • sc_tanf.yaml: (851.67 − 840) × 0.4046 = 4.72, so 0. (851.67 − 820) × 0.4046 = 12.812, so 12.81 within the 0.01 margin.
  • md_tca.yaml: 448 − 443.20 = 4.80, so 0. 448 − 438 = 10, so 10.
• PR body. "The new non-control cases fail on main" is right. Main pays 2.435, 9.99, 381.635, 100 (2023), 4.72 and 4.80; it passes the enrolled $8 group and the applicant with an $8 issuance deficit; and it pays the Case 16 family $5.
• Source-conflict ratchet (Tie source-conflict markers to the register shared with Axiom #10287). None of the 66 added or removed comment lines (code, parameters and tests) matches CONFLICT_COMMENT_RE. No MI, VA, SC or MD file is in KNOWN_UNMARKED. The CI run started after Tie source-conflict markers to the register shared with Axiom #10287 and Count the FL and SD LIHEAP comments in the source-conflict ratchet baseline #10334.
• Changelog. changelog.d/fix-9985-tanf-10-dollar-minimum.fixed.md is a top-level fragment with the fixed type.
• Parameters. Each has a description that follows the house template, unit: currency-USD, period: month and a label. Every href anchor shows its text: BEM 518 pages 2 and 4, Chapter 500 page 3, Chapter 114 page 210, manual page 133, and the COMAR page.
• Partner tests. None are touched, and Household API Partners passes.
• Issue closure. Fixes #9985 is right. The issue covers MI and VA; SC and MD are extra provisions of the same kind.

Axiom line assessment

The line is missing (Should 3), and encoded-correct isn't available:

• No modules. rulespec-us has no module for BEM 518, TANF Manual 502.1, 114-1140 or COMAR 07.03.03.13 E.
  • Michigan has only bem/660 and CMS / income tax modules.
  • Virginia has only income tax and CMS modules.
  • South Carolina has only SNAP regulations (114-1300 and others).
  • Maryland's programs/us-md/tca/fy-2026.yaml composes only the IM 26-13 maximum benefit schedule.
• No issue. Searches of rulespec-us issues for "9985", "10261", "Michigan FIP", "BEM 518", "COMAR 07.03.03.13", "114-1140" and "Maryland TCA" find no parity issue.
  • The open Virginia issues are NJ Senior Exemption #1920 (Use the SNAP standard deduction in effect for Virginia TANF earnings #10247, the earned-income deduction) and MD tanf maximum benefit #1921 (Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253, the TANF-UP standards), both about other provisions.
  • NYC taxable income #1728 covers other South Carolina TANF rules (Count South Carolina TANF unearned income at gross amounts and leave SSI recipients out of the benefit group #10184).

Recommended line. File a dispatch-ready pe-parity issue (one issue, or one per state) and use axiom: TheAxiomFoundation/rulespec-us#<n> queued. All four sources are already in axiom-corpus, byte-identical to the PR's links, so the only blocker is approval of the billed encoder run.

State	Module (following existing layouts)	Corpus
Michigan	us-mi/policies/mdhhs/bridges/bem/518, citing us-mi/manual/mdhhs/bridges/bem/518	us-mi/manual/2026-07-17-mi-bridges-manual, mi-mdhhs-bridges-bem-518.pdf, sha256 7624aa41…
Virginia	a Section 502.1 module under us-va/, citing us-va/manual/dss/tanf/chapter-500	us-va/manual/2026-09-10-tanf-state-policy-manual, us-va-dss-tanf-manual-chapter-500.pdf, sha256 74dbae90…
South Carolina	us-sc/regulations/114/1140/..., citing us-sc/regulation/114/1140	us-sc/regulation/2026-10-06-w6-tanf-ccdf-regulation-sc, sha256 6edbe62d…
Maryland	a .13 E module, citing us-md/regulation/title-07/subtitle-03/chapter-03; it can be added to programs/us-md/tca/fy-2026.yaml's scope	us-md/regulation/2026-07-03-md-tca-comar-publication-2026-06-29-title-07-subtitle-03-chapter-03

The issue should also include:

• Law. The verbatim text quoted above: BEM 518 pages 1-4, 502.1 A, 114-1140(A)(4)-(6) and COMAR .13 E(1)-(2).
• Required outputs. Michigan financial need (both tests at application, the issuance test ongoing) and the monthly payment with the $10 minimum in each state, plus Virginia's rounding to the lower dollar.
• Companion cases, taken from the sources, not from PolicyEngine output:
  • Virginia. 502.2 A Example 1: Group II, a mother and two children, no income, $482.00. Example 2: $482.00 − $88.50 = $393.50, paid as $393 for a full month. A $9.99 deficiency pays $0, and $10.00 pays $10.
  • Michigan. With the RFT 210 size-3 standard of $583: budgetable income of $575 means no financial need, and $573 means need exists. An applicant with a $3 qualifying deficit and an $8 issuance deficit is ineligible.
  • South Carolina. Manual 8.15: size 2 with no income gets the $344 payment standard. A computed amount under $10 is not paid.
  • Maryland. With the IM 26-13 size-1 allowable of $348: net countable income of $339 gives $9, not issued; $338 gives $10, issued.
• Divergence notes. PolicyEngine doesn't yet apply South Carolina's (A)(4) or Maryland's E(1) rounding (Suggestion 1). Its Virginia standards are fractional (Should 2).

CI status

All 27 checks pass at b92c4eae5e (gh pr checks 10261). The workflow run on that SHA was created 2026-10-23 18:45 UTC, after #10287 and #10334. That includes:

• the 11 Baseline shards (incl. states shards 1-4);
• the 9 Contrib shards;
• Household API Partners;
• PR validation (lock, guard tests, lint, changelog);
• Microsimulation;
• the two Full Suite - Rest jobs;
• Package and compatibility;
• Quick Feedback.

The earlier non-green check was attempt 1's "Full Suite - Microsimulation". It was cancelled with "The job has exceeded the maximum execution time of 1h0m0s", which is infrastructure. Attempt 2, re-run 2026-10-23 21:05 UTC, passed that job in 40m24s. Nothing is pending or failing.

Branch status

The branch is 2 commits ahead of main (the change on 2026-10-16 and a merge of main on 2026-10-23) and 48 behind. git merge-tree --write-tree PolicyEngine/main b92c4eae5e merges cleanly.

• Main hasn't changed any MI FIP, VA TANF, SC TANF or MD TCA file since the merge base.
• Main's only change to test_source_conflicts.py swaps unrelated KNOWN_UNMARKED rows (CA premium subsidy, QBI, local sales tax).
• Sibling PRs:
  • Pay Virginia TANF-UP units the TANF standards of assistance in every year #10253 (approved). It conflicts in va_tanf.yaml (Should 1).
  • Use the SNAP standard deduction in effect for Virginia TANF earnings #10247 (approved). It merges cleanly on top of both.
  • Count South Carolina TANF unearned income at gross amounts and leave SSI recipients out of the benefit group #10184 (open, South Carolina). It merges this PR's SC files cleanly. Its own conflicts with main (income/unearned.yaml, integration.yaml) don't involve this PR.

Verdict: REQUEST_CHANGES

[DTrim99]

The law checks out in all four states: under $10 is strict, exactly $10 is paid, nothing rounds up, MI groups become ineligible and VA/SC/MD units stay eligible. No partner files are touched, and all 27 hand-checks pass. Three should-address items: (1) the edited VA TANF-UP case says the UP standard applies in 2021, which contradicts the approved #10253 ('every year'), and the two PRs now conflict, so align with #10253 and update the body's overlap claim; (2) flooring fractional VA standards leaves payments $1-2 under the printed 7/22 Appendix 2 (family of 3: $481 vs $482, and the new 2025 test pins $381 vs $382); (3) there's no axiom line. Four suggestions. Full report in the comment above.