Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines, 3236-3237 [2015-01120]

Download as PDF 3236 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices By Order of the Federal Maritime Commission. Dated: January 16, 2015. Rachel E. Dickon, Assistant Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Decision To Evaluate a Petition To Designate a Class of Employees From the Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Bloomfield, New Jersey, To Be Included in the Special Exposure Cohort [FR Doc. 2015–01033 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6730–01–P National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Federal Open Market Committee; Domestic Policy Directive of December 16–17, 2014 In accordance with Section 271.25 of its rules regarding availability of information (12 CFR part 271), there is set forth below the domestic policy directive issued by the Federal Open Market Committee at its meeting held on December 16–17, 2014.1 Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Federal Open Market Committee seeks monetary and financial conditions that will foster maximum employment and price stability. In particular, the Committee seeks conditions in reserve markets consistent with federal funds trading in a range from 0 to 1/4 percent. The Committee directs the Desk to undertake open market operations as necessary to maintain such conditions. The Committee directs the Desk to maintain its policy of rolling over maturing Treasury securities into new issues and its policy of reinvesting principal payments on all agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. The Committee also directs the Desk to engage in dollar roll and coupon swap transactions as necessary to facilitate settlement of the Federal Reserve’s agency mortgage-backed securities transactions. The System Open Market Account manager and the secretary will keep the Committee informed of ongoing developments regarding the System’s balance sheet that could affect the attainment over time of the Committee’s objectives of maximum employment and price stability. NIOSH gives notice as required by 42 CFR 83.12(e) of a decision to evaluate a petition to designate a class of employees from the Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Bloomfield, New Jersey, to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The initial proposed definition for the class being evaluated, subject to revision as warranted by the evaluation, is as follows: Facility: Westinghouse Electric Corp. Location: Bloomfield, New Jersey. Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All employees who worked in any plant production area. Period of Employment: January 1, 1950 through March 1, 2011. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stuart L. Hinnefeld, Director, Division of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, MS C–46, Cincinnati, OH 45226–1938, Telephone 877–222–7570. Information requests can also be submitted by email to DCAS@CDC.GOV. SUMMARY: John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. [FR Doc. 2015–01056 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163–19–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES By order of the Federal Open Market Committee, January 9, 2015. William B. English, Secretary, Federal Open Market Committee. Office of the Secretary [FR Doc. 2015–01008 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services. ACTION: Notice. tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES BILLING CODE 6210–01–P 1 Copies of the Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee at its meeting held on December 16–17, 2014, which includes the domestic policy directive issued at the meeting, are available upon request to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551. The minutes are published in the Federal Reserve Bulletin and in the Board’s Annual Report. VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:09 Jan 21, 2015 Jkt 235001 Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines This notice provides an update of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar year’s increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Effective Date: January 22, 2015, unless an office administering a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that particular program. ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program, contact the Federal, state, or local office that is responsible for that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses given below. For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves, contact Kendall Swenson, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201, telephone: (202) 690–7507, or visit https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/. For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I–864, Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at 1–800–375– 5283. For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving the poverty guidelines), contact the Health Resources and Services Administration Information Center at 1–800–275–4772. To receive a Hill-Burton information package, call 1– 800–638–0742 (for callers outside Maryland) or 1–800–492–0359 (for callers in Maryland). You also may visit https://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/ affordable/hillburton/. For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the Poverty section of the Census Bureau’s Web site at https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/ poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census Bureau’s Customer Service Center at 1–800–923–8282 (toll-free) or visit https://ask.census.gov for further information. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DATES: Background Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of E:\FR\FM\22JAN1.SGM 22JAN1 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices the Department of Health and Human Services to update the poverty guidelines at least annually, adjusting them on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U). The poverty guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion by the Community Services Block Grant program and a number of other Federal programs. The poverty guidelines issued here are a simplified version of the poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and families in poverty. As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the relevant percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U). The guidelines in this 2015 notice reflect the 1.6 percent price increase between calendar years 2013 and 2014. After this inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to standardize the differences between family sizes. The same calculation procedure was used this year as in previous years. (Note that these 2015 guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year 2014 which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final form in September 2015.) The poverty guidelines continue to be derived from the Census Bureau’s current official poverty thresholds; they are not derived from the Census Bureau’s new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The following guideline figures represent annual income. 2015 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Persons in family/household 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ Poverty guideline $11,770 15,930 20,090 24,250 28,410 32,570 36,730 40,890 tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,160 for each additional person. 2015 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR ALASKA Persons in family/household 1 ............................................ 2 ............................................ 3 ............................................ VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:09 Jan 21, 2015 Poverty guideline $14,720 19,920 25,120 Jkt 235001 2015 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR ALASKA—Continued Persons in family/household 4 5 6 7 8 ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ Poverty guideline 30,320 35,520 40,720 45,920 51,120 For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $5,200 for each additional person. 2015 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR HAWAII Persons in family/household 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ ............................................ Poverty guideline $13,550 18,330 23,110 27,890 32,670 37,450 42,230 47,010 For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,780 for each additional person. Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966–1970 period. (Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds—the version of the poverty measure used for statistical purposes—have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.) The poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that administers the program is generally responsible for deciding whether to use the contiguous-states-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions or to follow some other procedure. Due to confusing legislative language dating back to 1972, the poverty guidelines sometimes have been mistakenly referred to as the ‘‘OMB’’ (Office of Management and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty line. In fact, OMB has never issued the guidelines; the guidelines are issued each year by the Department of Health and Human Services. The poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as ‘‘the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).’’ Some federal programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3237 (for example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted in relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own authority in non-Federallyfunded activities also may choose to use a percentage multiple of the guidelines. The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and non-farm families, or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged one-person and twoperson units.) Note that this notice does not provide definitions of such terms as ‘‘income’’ or ‘‘family,’’ because there is considerable variation in defining these terms among the different programs that use the guidelines. These variations are traceable to the different laws and regulations that govern the various programs. This means that questions such as ‘‘Is income counted before or after taxes?’’, ‘‘Should a particular type of income be counted?’’, and ‘‘Should a particular person be counted as a member of the family/household?’’ are actually questions about how a specific program applies the poverty guidelines. All such questions about how a specific program applies the guidelines should be directed to the entity that administers or funds the program, since that entity has the responsibility for defining such terms as ‘‘income’’ or ‘‘family,’’ to the extent that these terms are not already defined for the program in legislation or regulations. Dated: January 16, 2015. Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services. [FR Doc. 2015–01120 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4150–05–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [60Day–15–15KX] Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction E:\FR\FM\22JAN1.SGM 22JAN1

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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 14 (Thursday, January 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3236-3237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01120]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary

Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice provides an update of the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar
year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

DATES: Effective Date: January 22, 2015, unless an office administering
a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for
that particular program.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program,
contact the Federal, state, or local office that is responsible for
that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration
forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number
of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses
given below.
For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves,
contact Kendall Swenson, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201, telephone: (202) 690-7507, or
visit https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
at 1-800-375-5283.
For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services
Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals
and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving
the poverty guidelines), contact the Health Resources and Services
Administration Information Center at 1-800-275-4772. To receive a Hill-
Burton information package, call 1-800-638-0742 (for callers outside
Maryland) or 1-800-492-0359 (for callers in Maryland). You also may
visit https://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/.
For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the
Poverty section of the Census Bureau's Web site at https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census
Bureau's Customer Service Center at 1-800-923-8282 (toll-free) or visit
https://ask.census.gov for further information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of
1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of

[[Page 3237]]

the Department of Health and Human Services to update the poverty
guidelines at least annually, adjusting them on the basis of the
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty
guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion by the Community
Services Block Grant program and a number of other Federal programs.
The poverty guidelines issued here are a simplified version of the
poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses to prepare its estimates
of the number of individuals and families in poverty.
As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the
latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the relevant
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2015 notice reflect the 1.6 percent
price increase between calendar years 2013 and 2014. After this
inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to
standardize the differences between family sizes. The same calculation
procedure was used this year as in previous years. (Note that these
2015 guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for
calendar year 2014 which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final
form in September 2015.)
The poverty guidelines continue to be derived from the Census
Bureau's current official poverty thresholds; they are not derived from
the Census Bureau's new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).
The following guideline figures represent annual income.

2015 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................................... $11,770
2....................................................... 15,930
3....................................................... 20,090
4....................................................... 24,250
5....................................................... 28,410
6....................................................... 32,570
7....................................................... 36,730
8....................................................... 40,890
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,160 for each
additional person.

2015 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................................... $14,720
2....................................................... 19,920
3....................................................... 25,120
4....................................................... 30,320
5....................................................... 35,520
6....................................................... 40,720
7....................................................... 45,920
8....................................................... 51,120
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $5,200 for each
additional person.

2015 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................................... $13,550
2....................................................... 18,330
3....................................................... 23,110
4....................................................... 27,890
5....................................................... 32,670
6....................................................... 37,450
7....................................................... 42,230
8....................................................... 47,010
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,780 for each
additional person.

Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect
Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the
1966-1970 period. (Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds--the
version of the poverty measure used for statistical purposes--have
never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.) The poverty
guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying
jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty
guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that
administers the program is generally responsible for deciding whether
to use the contiguous-states-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions
or to follow some other procedure.
Due to confusing legislative language dating back to 1972, the
poverty guidelines sometimes have been mistakenly referred to as the
``OMB'' (Office of Management and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty
line. In fact, OMB has never issued the guidelines; the guidelines are
issued each year by the Department of Health and Human Services. The
poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as ``the poverty
guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42
U.S.C. 9902(2).''
Some federal programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines
(for example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted
in relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal
organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own authority
in non-Federally-funded activities also may choose to use a percentage
multiple of the guidelines.
The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and
non-farm families, or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census
Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged
one-person and two-person units.)
Note that this notice does not provide definitions of such terms as
``income'' or ``family,'' because there is considerable variation in
defining these terms among the different programs that use the
guidelines. These variations are traceable to the different laws and
regulations that govern the various programs. This means that questions
such as ``Is income counted before or after taxes?'', ``Should a
particular type of income be counted?'', and ``Should a particular
person be counted as a member of the family/household?'' are actually
questions about how a specific program applies the poverty guidelines.
All such questions about how a specific program applies the guidelines
should be directed to the entity that administers or funds the program,
since that entity has the responsibility for defining such terms as
``income'' or ``family,'' to the extent that these terms are not
already defined for the program in legislation or regulations.

Dated: January 16, 2015.
Sylvia M. Burwell,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2015-01120 Filed 1-21-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P

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