①The State shall bear the following expenses pursuant to the provisions of a Cabinet Order:

②The State may, pursuant to the provisions of a Cabinet Order, subsidize the following expenses:

③The State may, pursuant to the provisions of a Cabinet Order, subsidize up to two-thirds of the amount that a prefecture has subsidized to the founder of a public assistance facility pursuant to the provisions of Article 74, paragraph (1).

①In the case of providing funeral assistance pursuant to the provisions of Article 18, paragraph (2), a public assistance administrator may allocate the money and securities left behind by the deceased to public assistance expenses, and if this is still not sufficient, he/she may allocate the proceeds from selling the goods left behind to public assistance expenses.

②A prefecture or municipality shall have a right of priority over the statutory liens of the other creditors for the goods left behind with regard to the expenses under the preceding paragraph.

When the grounds on which a public assistance recipient received medical assistance or long-term care assistance have arisen from the act of a third party, a prefecture or municipality acquires, to the extent of the public assistance expenses it has paid, the right to claim damages that the public assistance recipient has against that third party.

The right to receive payment of the benefit for employment and self-support or the school enrollment and job-search preparation benefit is extinguished by prescription when two years have elapsed from the time when it became possible to exercise that right.

①When there is a person who must perform a duty of support for a public assistance recipient pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code, the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the public assistance expenses may collect all or a part of said expenses from said person within the scope of his/her duty.

②In the case under the preceding paragraph, if the public assistance administrator and the person responsible for support fail to reach an agreement by a conference or are unable to hold a conference with regard to the amount to be borne by the person responsible for support, a family court shall decide on the amount following a motion by the public assistance administrator.

①When there is a person who has received public assistance despite having resources, in a case such as an emergency (excluding cases specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as ones in which collection is not appropriate), the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the expenses required for the public assistance may collect from that person all or part of the amount determined by the public assistance administrator under Article 63.

②Except as otherwise provided for in this Act, the amounts to be collected under the preceding paragraph may be collected according to the example of the collection of national taxes.

①When any person has received public assistance by filing a false application or by any other wrongful means or has had another person receive public assistance, the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the public assistance expenses may collect from said person all or a part of the amount of said expenses and, in addition, an amount equal to or less than the amount obtained by multiplying the amount to be collected by 40/100.

②When there is a designated medical care provider, a long-term care provider designated pursuant to the provisions of Article 54-2, paragraph (1) (including one deemed to have received the designation under paragraph (1) of that Article pursuant to the provisions of the main clause of paragraph (2) of that Article), or a midwife or an amma-massage practitioner, acupuncturist, moxa-cauterist or judo therapist designated pursuant to the provisions of Article 55, paragraph (1) (referred to as a "designated medical care provider, etc." in this paragraph) that has received payment of expenses required for the furnishing of medical care, long-term care, midwifery or treatment through deceit or other wrongful acts, the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid those expenses may collect from that designated medical care provider, etc. the portion of the amount paid that is to be returned and, in addition, an amount equal to or less than the amount obtained by multiplying the amount to be returned by 40/100.

③When any person has received the benefit for employment and self-support or the school enrollment and job-search preparation benefit by deceit or other wrongful means, or has had another person receive it, the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the expenses for the benefit for employment and self-support or the expenses for the school enrollment and job-search preparation benefit may collect from that person all or a part of the amount of those expenses and, in addition, an amount equal to or less than the amount obtained by multiplying the amount to be collected by 40/100.

④The provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the amounts to be collected under the preceding three paragraphs.

①When a public assistance recipient has, before receiving delivery of public assistance benefit (limited to that provided by performance in money), requested, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, that a part of the public assistance benefit be applied to payment of the amount to be collected that the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the public assistance expenses may collect under the provisions of Article 77-2, paragraph (1) or paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, and the public assistance administrator finds that this will not hinder the maintenance of the livelihood of that public assistance recipient, the public assistance administrator may, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, collect the amount to be collected pertaining to that request when delivering the public assistance benefit to that public assistance recipient.

②A person who pays the benefit for employment and self-support pursuant to the provisions of Article 55-4, paragraph (1) may, when a public assistance recipient has, before receiving payment of the benefit for employment and self-support, requested, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, that all or a part of the amount of that benefit for employment and self-support be applied to payment of the amount to be collected that the governor or mayor of the prefecture or municipality that has paid the public assistance expenses may collect under the provisions of Article 77-2, paragraph (1) or paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, collect, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the amount to be collected pertaining to that request when paying the benefit for employment and self-support to that public assistance recipient.

③When the amount to be collected under Article 77-2, paragraph (1) or paragraph (1) of the preceding Article has been collected pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, the delivery of that public assistance benefit (limited to the part pertaining to the request under paragraph (1)) or the payment of that benefit for employment and self-support (limited to the part pertaining to the request under the preceding paragraph) to that public assistance recipient is deemed to have been made.

In any of the following cases, the State or a prefecture may order the founder of a public assistance facility to whom a subsidy or contribution has been delivered to refund all or a part of the already delivered subsidy or contribution:

In the case where all or a part of a public assistance benefit that has been provided in advance should be refunded in line with a change, suspension or discontinuance of public assistance, a public assistance administrator may, if he/she finds unavoidable circumstances applicable to a public assistance recipient who has consumed or lost the public assistance benefit, exempt said public assistance recipient from having to refund the public assistance benefit.