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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows States, at their option,
to treat legally obligated child support payments to a
non-household member as an income exclusion rather than
a deduction (as provided in current law). It requires
USDA to establish simplified procedures that States, at
their option, could use to determine the amount of child
support paid by a household, including information from
a State’s child support enforcement agency. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows a State option to exclude
certain types of income that are not counted under the
State’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
cash assistance or Medicaid programs. Under this
provision, States are allowed to exclude: educational
assistance not counted under Medicaid; State
complementary assistance not counted under section 1931
of Medicaid; and any type of income not counted under
section 1931 of Medicaid or TANF except for wages or
salaries, benefits from major assistance programs,
regular payments from a government source (such as
unemployment benefits or general assistance), worker’s
compensation, child support payments, or other types as
determined by USDA through regulations that are
essential to fair determinations of food stamp
eligibility and benefit amounts. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, replaces the current, fixed
standard deduction with a deduction that varies
according to household size and is adjusted annually for
cost-of-living increases. Larger households will receive
a higher deduction than they currently do. For
households in the 48 contiguous States and DC, AK, HI
and VI, it sets the deduction at 8.31 percent of the
applicable net income limit based on household size. No
household would receive an amount less than the current
deduction ($134, $229, $189 and $118 respectively) or
more than the standard deduction for a household of six.
Guamanian households receive a slightly higher
deduction. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows States to simplify the
Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) if the States elect to
use the SUA rather than actual utility costs for all
households. For these States, it eliminates the current
requirement to prorate the SUA when households share
living quarters and it allows the use of the SUA for
households in public housing with shared meters that are
only charged for excess utility costs. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows States to use a standard
deduction from income of $143 per month for homeless
households with some shelter expenses. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows States to disregard
reported changes in deductions during certification
periods except for changes associated with a new
residence or earned income until the next
recertification. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, increases the resource limit for
households with a disabled member from $2,000 to $3,000
consistent with the limit for households with an elderly
member. It also provides a State option to exclude
certain types of resources that the State does not count
for TANF or Medicaid (section 1931). Under this option,
States could not exclude cash, licensed vehicles,
amounts in financial institutions that are readily
available, or other resources as determined by USDA
through regulations that are essential to fair
determinations of food stamp eligibility and benefit
amounts. |
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Effective the date of enactment, allows USDA to approve
alternate methods for issuing food stamp benefits during
disasters when reliance on electronic benefit transfer
systems (EBT) is impracticable. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, allows States to extend
semi-annual reporting of changes to all households not
exempt from periodic reporting. Under current
regulations, this option is limited to households with
earnings. For States choosing the option, households
required to report less often than every three months
would only have to report when income exceeds the gross
income limits. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, eliminates the requirement that
Federal costs for electronic benefit transfer systems
cannot exceed the costs of the paper systems they
replace.
o Effective the date of enactment, requires USDA to
submit a report not later than Oct. 1, 2003 to the House
and Senate Agriculture Committees that |
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1) |
describes the status of EBT systems in each
State; |
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2) |
specifies the number of vendors each State
has contracted with for EBT systems; |
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3) |
specifies the number of States with multiple
vendor contracts; |
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4) |
provides information on States in which EBT
is not operational by Oct. 1, 2002; |
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5) |
describes the issues faced by States that
have awarded a second EBT contract during
the 2-year period prior to the report and
the steps taken by the State to address
those problems; |
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6) |
describes the issues faced by States that
plan to award a second EBT contract within
the 2-year period from the date of the
report and the strategies the States are
planning to address those issues; |
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7) |
describes initiatives being considered by
USDA, retailers, vendors, and advocacy
groups to address any outstanding EBT
issues; |
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examines advances in electronic benefit
delivery during the 5- to 10-year period
from the date of the report including access
at farmers’ markets, increased use of
transaction data to identify and prosecute
fraud, and fostering increased competition
among vendors. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, requires USDA to conduct pilot
projects to test the feasibility of issuing standardized
rather than individual allotments to residents of small
group facilities for the disabled, shelters for battered
women/children or the homeless, and drug or alcoholic
treatment centers. It requires USDA at the conclusion of
the projects to determine whether alternative procedures
should be extended nationwide and to notify the House
and Senate Agriculture Committees of its determination.
If USDA makes a determination not to extend procedures
nationwide, pilot projects are to be terminated within a
reasonable amount of time. |
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Effective the date of enactment, allows group homes and
institutions to redeem EBT benefits directly through
banks in areas where EBT has been implemented rather
than going through authorized wholesalers or other
retailers. |
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Effective 18 months following enactment, requires State
agencies that have a Web site to post applications on
these sites in the same languages that the State uses
for its written applications. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, permits States to extend from
the current 3 months up to 5 months the period of time
households may receive transitional food stamp benefits
when they lose TANF cash assistance. Benefits would be
equal to the amount received by the household prior to
the termination of TANF with adjustments in income for
the loss of TANF and, at State option, information from
another program in which the household participates. A
household would not be eligible for the extension if it
was losing TANF cash assistance because of a sanction,
was disqualified from the Food Stamp Program, or is in a
category of households designated by the State as
ineligible for transitional benefits. The provision also
extends any certification period through the end of the
transitional period |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, authorizes up to $5 million of
appropriated funds for each of fiscal years 2003 through
2007 to pay the full costs for projects to improve
access for food stamp eligible households or to develop
and implement simplified application and eligibility
systems. Projects may consist of: coordinating food
stamp application and eligibility processes with other
assistance programs; establishing alternative methods of
applying that use the telephone and internet or other
system improvements; developing materials and other
resources to increase program access; improving methods
for informing eligible households about the program; or
other activities that USDA determines are appropriate. |
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Effective the date of enactment, allows the Secretary to
use mailing methods other than certified mail when
notifying retailers of adverse action so long as the
method provides evidence of delivery. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, makes substantial changes to the
QC system that measures States’ payment accuracy in
issuing food stamp benefits. Sanctions are limited to
States that are not penalized with a 95 percent
probability that their error rate exceeds 105 percent of
the national average for two consecutive years. If a
State’s error rate exceeds the threshold for two years
in a row, a liability will be established that is equal
to 10 percent of the cost of errors above 6 percent. Of
that amount, USDA may waive all or part, and/or require
up to 50 percent to be reinvested in corrective action
programs and/or require up to 50 percent to be set aside
for possible recovery in the third year. If a State’s
error rate exceeds the threshold for three consecutive
years, the State is responsible for paying the second
year at-risk amount and USDA will again require up to 50
percent of the liability amount to be reinvested in
corrective action programs and up to 50 percent be set
aside for possible recovery in the following year if the
State again exceeds the threshold for that year. |
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Effective the date of enactment, extends the date for
completing QC reviews and resolving State/Federal
differences to May 31st and extends the date for
announcing QC error rates to June 30th. |
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Effective the date of enactment, for FY 2003, the
current enhanced funding system that is based on error
rates is replaced with a performance system that will
award $48 million in bonuses each year to States with
high or improved performance for actions taken to
correct errors, reduce the rates of error, improve
eligibility determinations, or other activities that
demonstrate effective administration as determined by
USDA |
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Authorizes for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2007
$90 million for unrestricted E&T funding and up to $20
million in additional funding for States that pledge to
offer work slots to unemployed, childless adults who are
subject to the 3-month time limit for food stamps. The
provision also eliminates: 1) the requirement that 80
percent of unmatched funds must be used for able-bodied
adults with dependents; 2) the requirement that States
maintain their 1996 E&T funding levels to access
additional funds; and 3) the limits on the amounts that
USDA will reimburse States for work activities. prior
year funds are rescinded on enactment. Effective on
enactment, it eliminates the $25 per month cap that USDA
will reimburse States for transportation and other work
costs incurred by participants in E&T programs. |
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Effective Oct. 1, 2002, reauthorizes Food Stamp and Food
Distribution Program on Indian Reservations programs for
a 5-year period from FY 2003 through FY 2007. |
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Effective the date of enactment, clarifies that USDA may
exercise its waiver authority to conduct Food Stamp
Program research through grants to public or private
organizations. |
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Effective the date of enactment, consolidates the block
grant for Puerto Rico and American Samoa beginning in FY
2003 and provides $1.401 billion in consolidated funding
for FY 2003 with annual adjustments through FY 2007
based on the thrifty food plan. Of these funds, 99.6
percent is available to Puerto Rico to pay 100 percent
of the costs to provide nutrition assistance under its
program and 50 percent of the administrative costs and
0.4 percent is available for American Samoa to pay 100
percent of costs for its nutrition assistance program.
Puerto Rico may spend not more than $6 million of its FY
2002 funds in FY 2002 or FY 2003 on automation projects.
Beginning in FY 2002, both Puerto Rico and American
Samoa may carry over not more than 2 percent of their
funding from one fiscal year to the next. |
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Restores food stamp eligibility to qualified aliens who
are otherwise eligible AND who: |
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1) |
effective FY 2003 are receiving disability
benefits regardless of date of entry
(current law requires them to have been in
the country on 8/22/96); |
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2) |
effective 2004 and beyond are under 18
regardless of date of entry (current law
limits eligibility to children who were in
the country on 8/22/96); or |
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3) |
effective April 2003 have lived in the U.S.
continuously for 5 years as a qualified
alien beginning on date of entry. |
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Effective FY 2004, the provision also eliminates the
deeming requirements for immigrant children that count
the income and resources of the immigrant’s sponsor when
determining food stamp eligibility and benefit amounts
for the immigrant child. In a conforming amendment, it
also eliminates the 3-year deeming requirements under
section 5(i) of the Food Stamp Act for children. |
