This is to advise you that we are expanding our criteria for the approval of waivers of the face-to-face interview at both initial and recertification. We also wish to note that since state agencies already may waive the face-to-face interview on an individual case basis based on a finding of hardship, we are now categorizing these waivers as waivers of the requirement that state agencies document hardship prior to utilizing alternatives to the face-to-face interview.
This is a follow-up of our memorandum of Feb. 3, 2006, authorizing 2-year waivers of the work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. Since we issued the original memorandum, we have received several requests in which state agencies have requested waivers under which they proposed to include the same jurisdiction in waivers covering two different approval periods.
At the request of the state agencies, SNAP offered a two-year ABAWD waiver under limited circumstances.
In July of 1999, President Clinton announced several new initiatives to improve access to the Food Stamp Program. One of these initiatives was an expansion of the existing authority for quarterly reporting waivers.
The memorandum clarifies policy on quarterly reporting, and expands the kinds of changes that states can allow recipients to report quarterly, rather than when they occur.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 made a number of changes to the National School Lunch Act which governs the waiver process in the child nutrition programs. This memorandum identifies the changes and provides guidance to be used in developing and submitting waiver requests to the child nutrition division.