Food and Nutrition Service April 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule amends the regulations affecting the determination of children's eligibility for free meals under the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program by direct certification and categorical eligibility. Conforming changes and miscellaneous technical changes are also made, as appropriate, for the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (Reauthorization Act) amended the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require local educational agencies to conduct direct certification in conjunction with the Food Stamp Program, which is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under the direct certification process, a local educational agency obtains documentation of a child's receipt of SNAP benefits from the State or local SNAP office. This rule also incorporates provisions from the Reauthorization Act concerning the certification of certain children who are homeless, runaway, or migratory. This rule affects State agencies administering SNAP and the Child Nutrition Programs; local offices administering SNAP; local program operators that administer the School Nutrition Programs; and low income households with school age children. The rule is intended to improve school meal program access for low-income children, reduce paperwork for households and program administrators, and improve the integrity of the free and reduced price meal certification process.

This rule amends Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) regulations to conform FDPIR policy to the requirements included in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the Farm Bill) for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The provisions of this rulemaking are intended to improve program service to applicants and participants and promote consistency in the eligibility determination processes of FDPIR and SNAP. Specifically, this rule permanently excludes combat pay from being considered as income and eliminates the maximum dollar limit of the dependent care deduction. The rule also excludes from resource consideration household funds held in qualified education savings accounts identified in the Farm Bill and excludes any other education savings accounts for which an exclusion is allowed under SNAP. This rule also clarifies that the current resource exclusion for retirement accounts is restricted to the qualified retirement accounts identified in the Farm Bill, and that a resource exclusion will be allowed for any other retirement account for which an exclusion is allowed under SNAP. Finally, the rule clarifies that the FDPIR regulations regarding income eligibility refer to the SNAP net monthly income standard, not the SNAP gross monthly income standard.