Consistent with USDA's efforts to increase state flexibility within the bounds of the law, FNS is expanding allowable activities for states seeking to use non-merit system personnel in call centers. With FNS approval, states may now use non-merit personnel to provide basic case-specific information that is readily available in the system to a SNAP applicant or participant, such as application or case status, benefit issuance date, and status of submitted verifications. 

This study examines how the policies that determine benefit levels for the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program compare to current low-income spending patterns by analyzing the expenditures of low-income households across the United States in 2013 and 2014.

This memo discusses SNAP applications and other documents being sent by clients to the USDA Office of Civil Rights instead of the appropriate state SNAP office. The memo outlines best practices states can use to make submission instructions clearer for clients.

FNS is issuing this memorandum in fulfillment of the commitment made in the preamble of the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 final rule to provide additional guidance for state agencies on how to carry out the exclusion of certain military combat-related pay from income for purposes of SNAP eligibility determinations.

This webinar will focus on strategies for ways to advertise and market farmers markets to SNAP clients.

FNS is issuing this policy memo in response to inquiries about how state agencies are required to inform households about required and missing verification and how this interacts with other Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) requirements, including whether a state may close a case on the 30th day following application.

FNS is issuing this policy memo to clarify state options and requirements relating to the determination of fleeing felon status under Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations at 7 CFR 273.11(n).  

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  regulations at 7 CFR 273.11(n) require state agencies to choose between two tests to establish fleeing felon status: the four-part test and the alternative test, often called the Martinez test. This policy memo clarifies changes in the Martinez test necessitated by the Walter Barry, et al. v. Nick Lyon decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

FNS is putting a stay on the effective date of the interim final provisions in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 final rule. The effective date will be delayed for 120 days to Oc. 5, 2017.

The attached questions and answers address the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 final rule.