FNS Documents & Resources

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide questions and answers to help Indian Tribal Organizations and state agencies implement provisions of the final rule: Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations: Income Deductions & Resource Eligibility.

This document announces approval of an information collection requirements (ICR)  associated with the  final rule entitled Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations: Income Deductions and Resource Eligibility was published on Aug. 27, 2013.

The rule entitled Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Trafficking Controls and Fraud Investigations was published on August 21, 2013. The ICR for this rule approved the creation of a new information collection, which has been assigned the OMB Control Number 0584-0587. The Office of Management and Budget cleared the associated ICR on Sept. 23, 2013. This document announces the approval of the ICR.

This rulemaking establishes requirements to simplify and improve the administration of and expand access to the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Food Distribution Program for Indian Households in Oklahoma, both of which are referred to as FDPIR in this rulemaking.

In February, 2013, FNS published final regulations revising the definition of trafficking. It subsequently came to our attention that some states were not clear that upon its effective date, federal law takes precedence and states were expected to implement the new federal trafficking definition.

FNS is issuing a final rule to amend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations to allow state agencies to deny a request for a replacement card until contact is made by the household with the state agency, if the requests for replacement cards are determined to be excessive.

The Food and Nutrition Service is changing the SNAP regulations pertaining to client benefit use, participation of retail food stores and wholesale food concerns in SNAP, and SNAP client participation in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.

The increased focus on SNAP integrity has required FNS and the states to review their procedures for responding to integrity issues, specifically a clarification of FNS' responsibility when a state employee is found guilty of fraud while administering the program.

This memorandum provides guidance to states on how to treat MLR rebates received by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households.

This memorandum is to reaffirm FNS policy regarding the SNAP medical deduction and medicinal marijuana. Due to the increase in the number of states with laws that permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, FNS is now reaffirming its long standing policy that a household may not utilize the SNAP medical deduction for the cost of any substance considered illegal under federal law.