The state has failed for years to process food stamp applications within the federally mandated 30 days, delaying benefits for thousands of low-income recipients. But that’s about to change, officials said last week.

On Jan. 23 U.S. District Judge David Ezra ordered the state Department of Human Services to reach full compliance by the end of the year.

State officials admit their failing but blame the economic downtown, which led to an increase in applications as well as layoffs in the department.

Department officials say a new application system adopted last year has resulted in a timely processing rate of 76 percent.

"The DHS expects the state to be in full federal compliance by December 2012," added Kayla Rosenfeld, department communication specialist.

But even if the deadline is met, the state faces the prospect of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and costs to the lawyers who represent the recipients.

The federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps, helps put food on the table for some 173,000 people in low-income Hawaii households. The annual cost is about $440 million, according to state figures.

The state typically receives between 5,000 and 7,000 applications per month. In January 2011, for instance, the state processed 5,596 applications — 1,737 of them (31 percent) late, according to numbers cited in court papers.

The delay in processing means that applicants must often wait months for their food stamps, which to an average recipient is worth $215 per month.

Victor Geminiani, one of the recipients’ lawyers, estimates some applicants wait a month and a half beyond the 30-day period.

Once deemed qualified, they receive the benefits right away, including any retroactive amounts dating back to their applications. But in the meantime many go hungry, their lawyers say.

The class-action lawsuit filed in November 2010 said the "failure to process applications in a timely manner means that thousands of households are denied desperately needed assistance to help them feed their families and suffer hunger as a result."

In blaming economic conditions that created a backlog of applications, the state lawyers cited furloughs and cutbacks of 94 supervisory, clerical and other positions that dealt with food stamp applications and recipients.

Rosenfeld also pointed out that from 2008 to 2011 the number of food stamp applications the state received annually increased by nearly 30,000.

She said no state has reached the 100 percent federal compliance rate, and only six states have reached the 95 percent rate.

In November Ezra ruled that he would issue an injunction requiring the state to comply with federal requirements.

Lawyers for the recipients and the state later reached an agreement on the deadlines to show progress that were incorporated into Ezra’s formal injunction issued last week.

Geminiani, executive director of the Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said last week he expects the state will "do everything in its power" to comply with the federal order.

"We’re hoping they will be able to meet the deadline," he said. "But time will tell."

The department is also behind in processing emergency applications by those facing extreme hardship within the federally mandated seven days. Ezra’s order also directs the department to process those applications in a timely manner by the end of the year.

Geminiani said if the state doesn’t make "significant progress" in complying with the federal time limits, his organization will consider asking Ezra to hold the state in contempt.

The plaintiffs could also ask the judge to appoint a federal master to oversee the state handling of the applications, although Geminiani said he thinks it’s "very unlikely" the state will violate the order to the extent that a master will be appointed.

Geminiani said that as a prevailing party in the case, his organization will seek attorney fees and costs, possibly totaling several hundred thousand dollars. The amount would not be that high if the state had settled the case last summer, he said.

The state was mum on the issue.

"As for the question of attorney fees, the court will be considering motions from both sides, and we can’t say anything beyond that," the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Also representing the recipients are the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Hono­lulu law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing.