This memorandum provides state agencies with additional information on implementing Section 10102(b) and (c) of the OBBB, which changes criteria for waivers of the Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) time limit with special provisions for Alaska and Hawaii. Please note, we are reviewing SNAP regulations pertaining to ABAWD waiver requirements following enactment of the OBBB to determine changes necessary to comply with the changes.
This memorandum provides state agencies additional information on implementing Section 10102(a) of the OBBB, which changes exceptions from the Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) time limit.
USDA has established the SNAP Information Database. In accordance with Secretary Rollins’ July 9, 2025, letter, and in order to ensure a complete and accurate database, state agencies must be compliant with the requirement of transmitting SNAP participant data to FNS no later than July 30, 2025.
On May 6, 2025, state agencies were advised of the United States Department of Agriculture’s intent to implement President Trump’s March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14243, Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos through State data sharing to the Food and Nutrition Service.
We work in partnership with state agencies to provide nutrition assistance to Americans in need through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It is imperative that USDA eliminates bureaucratic duplication and inefficiency and enhances the government's ability not only to have point-in-time information but also to detect overpayments and fraud.
This memorandum adjusts the total number of exemptions available to each state for FY 2025. This includes adjustments in the number of exemptions available to states in which caseloads change by more than 10 percent.
On March 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14243, Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos. Among myriad important directives, this Executive Order required agency heads to “take all necessary steps, to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure the Federal Government has unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including, as appropriate, data generated by those programs but maintained in third-party databases.”
This memorandum reiterates these fundamental objectives and their interaction with the Secretary of Agriculture’s authority to grant state SNAP agencies requests to waive the time limit on receiving SNAP benefits by ABAWDs who do not meet statutory work requirements.
FNS is issuing this set of questions and answers to clarify questions concerning the provisions of the Dec. 17, 2024, final rule, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Program Purpose and Work Requirement Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. FNS expects these questions and answers will assist SNAP state agencies in implementing and complying with SNAP policy, especially able-bodied adults without dependents time limit policy.
The final rule, SNAP: Program Purpose and Work Requirement Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 17, 2024. The final rule amends theSNAP regulations to incorporate three provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. This rule also clarifies procedures for when state agencies must screen for exceptions to the time limit and verification requirements for exceptions.