This agenda provides summary descriptions of significant and not significant regulations being developed in agencies of the USDA in conformance with Executive Orders 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review,” 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” and 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative.”
USDA has rescinded the Biden Administration’s May 2022 Bostock policy update that sought to require federally-funded food and nutrition service programs to redefine discrimination by reason of “sex” under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 as not based on just male or female, but also “gender identity.” Today’s guidance eliminates the illegal threats issued under the Biden Administration that mandated compliance with ever-evolving concepts of gender ideology as a condition for participation in USDA school programs.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which was signed into law in March 2021, provided USDA with $390 million and waiver authority for outreach, innovation, and program modernization in WIC and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. FNS is interested in understanding the implementation and outcomes related to these modernization efforts.
The WIC and FMNP Modernization Evaluation provides a comprehensive look at how we are working with WIC state agencies, local agencies, and other partners to modernize WIC and the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.
This memo provides state agencies with guidance on allowable use of advanced automation technologies.
This memorandum clarifies that telephonic and virtual fair hearings and administrative disqualification hearings are allowed, reminds state agencies of related requirements, and recommends various best practices when conducting telephonic or virtual hearings. This memo rescinds and supersedes previous telephonic hearing guidance provided in FNS policy memos 82-14 and 83-05.
This report explores different approaches to reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which represents a low-cost, nutritious diet comprised of foods and beverages consumed at home and is used to calculate SNAP benefit amounts.
This toolkit is intended to help state agencies create easy-to-use online applications that eligible people can use to start the certification process for WIC.
This proposed rule would update the method for calculating the Thrifty Food Plan cost adjustment for Hawaii to incorporate food prices from throughout the state of Hawaii rather than from Honolulu alone.
One critical step in setting up an online WIC application is deciding what software to use. The features recommended in this article are based on market research; a review of all existing WIC online applications; and interviews with state agency staff, local agency staff, and people eligible for WIC about their online application needs.