0584-AD87 201610 The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0584 Food and Nutrition Service FNS 0500 Department of Agriculture USDA Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions

This final rule amends the regulations governing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to codify provisions from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-246) (FCEA) concerning the eligibility and certification of SNAP applicants and participants and SNAP employment and training.

]]> Economically Significant Previously Published in The Unified Agenda Final Rule Stage Yes No 7 CFR 273 Pub. L. 110-246 Pub. L. 104-121 Yes

This rule amends the regulations governing SNAP to implement provisions from the FCEA concerning the eligibility and certification of SNAP applicants and participants and SNAP employment and training. In addition, this rule revises the SNAP regulations throughout 7 CFR part 273 to change the program name from the Food Stamp Program to SNAP and to make other nomenclature changes as mandated by the FCEA. The statutory effective date of these provisions was October 1, 2008. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is also implementing two discretionary revisions to SNAP regulations to provide State agencies options that are available currently only through waivers. These provisions allow State agencies to average student work hours and to provide telephone interviews in lieu of face-to-face interviews. FNS anticipates that this rule will impact the associated paperwork burdens.

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Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-246).

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Most aspects of the rule are non-discretionary and tied to specific requirements for SNAP in the FCEA, and others were new program options the FCEA created that State agencies may include in their administration of the program. FNS did consider alternatives within these mandatory and optional FCEA provisions addressed in the rule. For example, under the new optional provision implementing section 4119 of the FCEA, Telephonic Signature Systems, FNS considered what specific conditions must be satisfied for a signature to be considered a spoken signature.

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The proposed rule estimated total SNAP costs to the Government of the FCEA provisions proposed in the rule to be $831 million in fiscal 2010 and $5.619 billion over the five years of fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014. The final rule will present a revised cost analysis. There are many potential societal benefits of this rule, including that certain provisions in the rule will reduce the administrative burden for households and State agencies.

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The statutory and discretionary changes under consideration would streamline program operations. The changes are expected to reduce the risk of inefficient operations.

]]> NPRM 05/04/2011 76 FR 25414 NPRM Comment Period End 07/05/2011 Final Action 11/00/2016 No Local State No No No No Charles Watford H. Regulatory Review Specialist 0584 Food and Nutrition Service FNS 703 605-0800 charles.watford@usda.gov 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria VA 22314 Lynnette Thomas M. Chief, Planning and Regulatory Affairs Branch 0584 Food and Nutrition Service FNS 703 605-4782 lynnette.thomas@fns.usda.gov 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria VA 22302