The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 required USDA to re-evaluate the Thrifty Food Plan by 2022 and every 5 years thereafter based on current food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns and dietary guidance. By law, the June TFP is the basis for SNAP maximum allotments for the following fiscal year.
This memorandum provides the FY 2022 Cost-of-Living Adjustments to SNAP, income eligibility standards, and deductions for the 48 contiguous states and D.C., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. COLAs are effective as of Oct. 1, 2021.
FNS intends to issue updated SNAP – Emergency Allotments guidance to provide benefits to certain eligible households, including those receiving SNAP benefits at the statutory maximum, that were previously deemed ineligible for emergency allotments by USDA.
This memorandum replaces the memo issued on Dec. 28, 2020, entitled SNAP – Temporary Increase in Maximum Allotments due to COVID-19. For ease of reference, FNS is reissuing the revised maximum SNAP allotment amounts by household size for the 48 states and D.C., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 increases SNAP benefits by raising maximum allotments to 115 percent of the June 2020 value of the Thrifty Food Plan; effective from Jan. 1, 2021 until June 30, 2021.
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.
The Agricultural Act of 2014 set the Quality Control tolerance level for excluding small errors at up to $37 for FY 2014. In addition, the Act requires FNS to adjust the tolerance level for future years by the percentage by which the Thrifty Food Plan is adjusted under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008.
This memorandum provides the FY 2015 Cost of Living Adjustments to the SNAP maximum allotments, income eligibility standards, and deductions. Under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, COLAs are effective as of Oct. 1, 2014.
FNS is adjusting the State of Hawaii's maximum and minimum SNAP allotments for fiscal year 2013, due to recent updates in the state's Thrifty Food Plan.
Two pieces of legislation currently govern the level of food and administrative resources available to TEFAP in FY 2012: the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act 2012, which provides funding through Sept. 30, 2012.