On Dec. 22, 2009, Puerto Rico passed Law 191 of 2009 that voids all Puerto Rican birth certificates issued prior to July 1, 2010. Current Puerto Rican birth certificates remain valid until the July I, 2010 effective date of the new law. As a result of this recent legislation, FNS has been asked to provide guidance to state agencies as to the treatment of voided Puerto Rican birth certificates for SNAP purposes.
On June 21, 2010, Food and Nutrition Service issued policy guidance on how to treat household members whose Puerto Rican birth certificates were voided under Puerto Rico Law 191 of 2009. The SNAP policy was to go into effect July 1, 2010 to coincide with the effective date of the new law.
Policy Memorandum No. FD-024, Household Overissuance (issued March 9, 2004), is cancelled. The guidance provided by Policy Memorandum No. FD-024 is contained in the newly revised FNS 501 Handbook (August 2005).
This memorandum is intended to address the impact of State laws that permit same sex marriages on Food Stamp Program eligibility requirements.