On Dec. 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021. Attached is an information memorandum describing the SNAP provisions of that Act.
Through this final rule, FNS is adding regulations that will ensure the integrity of the supplemental allotments for households with children who would have otherwise received free or reduced price school meals under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, but for school closures or reduction in the number of days or hours that students attend school in response to the ongoing and national COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
This final rule amends the SNAP regulations to ensure that retail food stores can no longer use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process to delay FNS' administrative actions to sanction a retail food store for SNAP violations. Under this rule, FNS will process FOIA requests and FOIA appeals separately from the administrative action for all SNAP violations, as originally proposed. The processing of FOIA requests and appeals during the administrative and judicial review process will have no impact on when the agency can take administrative action.
This final rule amends the SNAP regulations to implement provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill regarding monthly benefit issuance allotments, storage of benefits off-line, and permanent expungement of unused benefits, as well as related benefit expungement and off-line storage provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill. This final rule also updates SNAP regulations to reflect the program's name change to SNAP and benefit issuance through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems.
FNS is extending the public comment period on the proposed rule titled, “Employment and Training Opportunities in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program”, which was published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2020. This action extends the deadline for receipt of public comments to give the public additional time to review the proposed rule.
The proposed rule would implement the changes made by section 4005 of The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the Act) to SNAP pertaining to the Employment and Training program and aspects of the work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). In general, these changes are related to strengthening the SNAP E&T program, adding workforce partnerships as a way for SNAP participants to meet their work requirements, and modifying the work requirement for ABAWDs.
This action will change Food Stamp Program rules relating to the excess medical expense deduction. The changes will simplify the means by which households with elderly and disabled members claim deductions from income for verified, prospective, non-reimbursed medical expenses.
This rule is implementing technical amendments to numerous provisions of the regulations governing the Food Stamp Program. These technical amendments: (1) Correct errors in spelling, grammar, regulatory references and typographical errors; (2) provide consistency or conformity with other regulatory provisions; and (3) finalize proposed technical changes published on March 28, 1991. These technical amendments do not change the substance of the affected provisions.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Food and Nutrition Service is announcing the Office of Management and Budget's approval of information collection requirements contained in a final rule published in the Federal Register.
FNS is issuing this affirmation of a final rule, without change, of an interim rule that amended SNAP regulations, to require state agencies to monitor electronic benefit transfer card replacement requests and send notices to those clients who have requested four cards within a 12-month period.