FNS Documents & Resources

As authorized by SNAP regulations at 7 CFR 272.3(c)(1)(i), FNS will allow state agencies flexibility in the time frames for fair hearings in SNAP regulations at 7 CFR 273.15(c) and (j)(2).

USDA has issued guidance to states in implementing Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, which provides for the issuance of emergency allotments (supplements) based on a public health emergency declaration by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act related to an outbreak of COVID-19 when a state has also issued an emergency or disaster declaration.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 provides the Secretary of Agriculture authority to approve state agency plans for temporary emergency standards of eligibility and levels of benefits under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. Children who would receive free or reduced price meals under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act if not for the school closure are eligible under this provision. State agencies may submit plans in any case in which a school is closed for at least 5 consecutive days during a public health emergency designation during which the school would otherwise be in session.

FNS will allow state agencies to suspend SNAP regulations at 7 CFR 273.18(d) by allowing flexibility in the time frame for establishing or disposing of new claims as well as SNAP regulations at 7 CFR 273.18(e)(1) and (e)(5) by not requiring collection of active recoupment of SNAP overpayments, delaying collection on newly established overpayments, and not considering any payments delayed due to this suspension to be delinquent.

This memorandum adjusts the total number of exemptions available to each state for FY 2020, as shown in the table on the next page. Please note that the totals do not account for any exemption usage in FY 2020 (those figures must be reported in final by states on the Form FNS-583, due 45-days after the end of the fiscal year).

As a result of the preliminary injunction of the final rule’s provisions related to waivers, states are not currently required to meet those waiver standards in order to implement a waiver of the time limit. Instead, while the injunction is in place, the previous waiver criteria published in the Jan. 17, 2001, final rule, Food Stamp Program: Personal Responsibility Provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, will be used as the basis for any waiver approvals.

FNS has received multiple requests from state agencies for various QC related flexibilities in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Extensive certification policy waivers have already made normal QC procedures difficult to apply, and FNS has determined that temporarily waiving the QC review is appropriate.

FNS is permitting all interested state agencies to extend certification periods and accordingly adjust periodic report submission dates for ongoing SNAP households who are due for recertification or periodic reporting through June 30, 2020.

Pursuant to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and based on the exceptional circumstances of this public health emergency, FNS is establishing a nationwide waiver to support access to nutritious meals while minimizing potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID– 19).

FNS is permitting all interested state agencies to extend certification periods and accordingly adjust periodic report submission dates for ongoing SNAP households who are due for recertification or periodic reporting through June 30, 2020.