Information Collection: SNAP Benefit Expungement and Off-Line Storage

This notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection associated with SNAP benefit storage and expungement provisions of the 2008 and 2018 Farm Bills. This collection involves both a new collection and an existing collection in use without an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

The new collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice prior to the state agency expunging unused SNAP benefits from the household's Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) account due to nine months of account inactivity. The existing collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice of state agency action to store unused SNAP benefits offline due to three or more months of account inactivity and for those households to seek reinstatement of benefits prior to permanent expungement. 

Abstract: 
The Department published the final rule, “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: 2008 Farm Bill Provisions on Clarification of Split Issuance; Accrual of Benefits and Definition Changes,” on August 24, 2020, (85 FR 52025), to implement the mandatory SNAP benefit storage and expungement provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, PL 110-234 (2008 Farm Bill). In the final rule, the Department also adopted as final the provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, PL 115-334 (2018 Farm Bill), which made additional mandatory changes to the provisions governing the storage and expungement of unused benefits.

These Farm Bill provisions require state agencies to provide a 30-day advance notice prior to permanently expunging unused SNAP benefits after nine months of inactivity. State agencies that opt to take unused benefits off-line after three months of SNAP EBT account inactivity must also provide up to 10 days advance or concurrent notice prior to taking such action and to reinstate benefits stored off-line within 48 hours of a household's request if the benefits have not reached the expungement timeframe. Currently, only six state agencies are exercising the option to store unused benefits off-line prior to expungement. This information is currently being collected without OMB approval.