FNS Documents & Resources

This memorandum provides guidance to state agencies on how to determine if an individual has good cause for not meeting the general work requirement in situations related to COVID-19 vaccination requirements and COVID-19 workplace safeguards.

ABAWDs can get SNAP for only 3 months in a 3-year period if they do not meet certain extra work requirements. This page includes information on waiver status by state by fiscal quarter. 

FNS has estimated the number of new discretionary exemptions each state has earned for FY 2022. States that operated under a statewide waiver of the ABAWD time limit did not earn any new exemptions.

Here are some resources to find out more about SNAP ABAWDs and related information. 

This guide consolidates and underscores FNS policy concerning waivers of the ABAWD time limit and replaces its predecessor, FNS' December 2016 Guide to Supporting Requests to Waive the Time Limit for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD). FNS advises state agencies to use this guide to understand, obtain, and prepare evidence that successfully supports an ABAWD time limit waiver request based on relevant sections of the Act; federal regulations; and historical SNAP policy.

This memorandum provides guidance to help states prepare to implement the SNAP time limit for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) once the temporary and partial suspension under the Family First Coronavirus Act (FFCRA) lapses. States must properly implement the time limit for ABAWDs while ensuring program access for all eligible participants.

This notice invites the public to comment on a new collection for: (1) documenting the policies and guidelines used for making fitness for work determinations; (2) describing the process state agencies use for making fitness for work determinations; (3) determining any general patterns and trends in fitness for work and good cause determinations within and across four case study states; and (4) determining how closely caseworkers follow the states' fitness for work and good cause determination policies.

FNS is targeting the areas of program operation listed, for state SNAP Agency Management Evaluations for the upcoming fiscal year. State SNAP agencies are required to conduct MEs for the target areas in the upcoming fiscal year.  

This final rule removes from the Code of Federal Regulations the final rule published on Dec. 5, 2019, titled “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents.” This action responds to a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that vacated the rule.

This report examines the reinstatement of time limits on SNAP participation for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) following the Great Recession. This report focuses on how reinstatement of time limits impacted ABAWD employment, annual wages, and program participation. Methods include descriptive and regressive analysis of administrative data, analysis of linked SNAP-Unemployment Insurance data, sensitivity analysis of key findings, and interviews with regional SNAP directors.