Food and Nutrition Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new collection for the Food and Nutrition Service to examine the characteristics, circumstances, program dynamics, and benefit redemption patterns of participants whose households reported zero gross income in their applications for participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

This notice announces the annual adjustments to the national average payment rates for meals and snacks served in child care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, at-risk afterschool care centers, and adult day care centers; the food service payment rates for meals and snacks served in day care homes; and the administrative reimbursement rates for sponsoring organizations of day care homes, to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index. Further adjustments are made to these rates to reflect the higher costs of providing meals in the States of Alaska and Hawaii. The adjustments contained in this notice are made on an annual basis each July, as required by the laws and regulations governing the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice invites the public and other public agencies to comment on a proposed information collection burden for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) Program, currently approved under OMB No. 0584-0339. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection, which proposes to increase the currently approved burden of 21,755 by 4,328 hours. The adjusted burden is 26,083 hours. An increase in the estimated number of annual work registrants accounts for most of the increase.

This notice announces a request for public comments on the approach for selecting and awarding local agencies for excellence in WIC breastfeeding services and support. Section 231 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Public Law 111-296, requires that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establish a program to recognize WIC local agencies and clinics that demonstrate exemplary breastfeeding promotion and support activities. USDA believes that public input on the development of the recognition program would be beneficial.

This final rule incorporates into the regulations governing the Programs authorized under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) two nondiscretionary provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFK Act). The HHFK Act requires State and local cooperation in Department of Agriculture studies and evaluations related to Programs authorized under the NSLA and the CNA. The HHFK Act also amends the NSLA to stipulate that Federal funds must not be subject to State budget restrictions or limitations, including hiring freezes, work furloughs, and travel restrictions. This final rule amends regulations for the National School Lunch Program; the Special Milk Program for Children; the School Breakfast Program; the Summer Food Service Program; the Child and Adult Care Food Program; State Administrative Expense Funds ; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. These provisions will strengthen program integrity by ensuring that sufficient data is made available for studies and evaluations. Additionally, exempting Federal funds from State budgetary restrictions or limitations is intended to increase the ability of State agencies to administer USDA's nutrition assistance programs effectively.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on proposed information collections. The proposed information collection is a revision to a currently approved collection of information relating to the reporting and recordkeeping burden associated with completing and submitting form FNS-339, the Federal and State Agreement for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP); and/or the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).

This rule amends National School Lunch Program (NSLP) regulations to conform to requirements contained in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-296) regarding equity in school lunch pricing and revenue from nonprogram foods sold in schools. This rule requires school food authorities (SFAs) participating in the NSLP to provide the same level of financial support for lunches served to students who are not eligible for free or reduced price lunches as is provided for lunches served to students eligible for free lunches. This rule also requires that all food sold in a school and purchased with funds from the nonprofit school food service account, other than meals and supplements reimbursed by the Department of Agriculture, must generate revenue at least equal to the cost of such foods.

This final rule incorporates into the Child and Adult Care Food Program regulations modifications, clarifications, and technical changes to the two interim rules published by the Department on June 27, 2002 and September 1, 2004. These changes result from over 1,000 public comments received in response to the two interim rules; State agencies' and the Department's experience in implementing the changes in these two rules over several years; and the Department's conduct of an extensive data collection and analysis (the Child Care Assessment Project) designed to evaluate implementation of these two interim rules by family day care home sponsors and providers. This rule clarifies or modifies regulatory provisions relating to: State agency criteria for approving new and renewing institutions' applications; sponsoring organization requirements pertaining to the ``block claim'' edit check and review averaging; and State- and institution-level requirements pertaining to the serious deficiency process. The changes in this final rule are designed to further improve Program management and integrity and, where possible, to streamline and simplify Program requirements.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is revising Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations that cover the privacy protections for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households and applicants. The change is to comply with a new provision of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008.

This proposed rule would implement provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA) affecting the eligibility, benefits, certification, and employment and training (E&T) requirements for applicant or participant households in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The rule would amend the SNAP regulations to: Exclude military combat pay from the income of SNAP households; raise the minimum standard deduction and the minimum benefit for small households; eliminate the cap on the deduction for dependent care expenses; index resource limits to inflation; exclude retirement and education accounts from countable resources; permit States to expand the use of simplified reporting; permit States to provide transitional benefits to households leaving State-funded cash assistance programs; allow States to establish telephonic signature systems; permit States to use E&T funds to provide post-employment job retention services; and limit the E&T funding cycle to 15 months. These provisions are intended to increase SNAP benefit levels for certain participants, reduce barriers to participation, and promote efficiency in the administration of the program.

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.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on proposed information collections. This collection is a revision of currently approved information collection requirements associated with initiating collection actions against households who have received an overissuance in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new collection for the Food and Nutrition Service to examine how nutrition assistance programs are currently being implemented in the diverse operational contexts of farmers' markets and identify facilitators and barriers for farmers' markets' participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

This document informs the public about a change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that affects the proposed rule ``Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs'' issued by the Department of Agriculture and published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2011. Members of the public are asked to address this change when writing comments on the above referenced rule to assist the Department in updating the school meal patterns and nutrition standards according to the latest dietary recommendations.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection for ``National School Lunch Program Direct Certification Improvement Study'' is a reinstatement with change of a previously approved data collection for ``Feasibility of Computer Matching in the National School Lunch Program.'' It builds on the data collection for ``Feasibility of Computer Matching in the National School Lunch Program.'' This study will collect information from State child nutrition (CN) and education agencies, as well as local education agencies (LEAs). The information collection will build on existing knowledge by examining current methods of direct certification used by State and local agencies and the challenges facing States and LEAs in attaining high matching rates.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is a new information collection that is designed to conduct a feasibility test of a parent-recall interview method, on a national basis, to assess the accuracy of meal claims submitted for reimbursement by family day care home providers for meals served to children who attend the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) day care homes. The assessment is tasked with developing nationally representative improper payment estimates and rates (percentage) of improper payments (in total and by meal type) due to sponsor reimbursement of invalid meal claims submitted by family day care homes (FDCHs) during FY 2011.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new collection for the Food and Nutrition Service to examine the impact and implementation of the Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) that will begin in Hampden County, Massachusetts (MA) in November 2011.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on proposed information collections.

This rule proposes to revise the meal patterns and nutrition requirements for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to align them with the 2005 ``Dietary Guidelines for Americans,'' as required by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The proposed changes are based on recommendations from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine set forth in the report ``School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children.'' This proposed rule would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals; and help meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. Implementation of this proposed rule would result in more nutritious school meals that improve the dietary habits of school children and protect their health.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is adopting as a final rule, without change, a direct final rule that made changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations to account for the replacement of the paper coupon issuance system with the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system as the nationwide method of distributing benefits to program participants. This action is in accordance with the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Public Law 110-246, (the 2008 Farm Bill) which prohibited State agencies from issuing paper food stamp coupons and made EBT cards the sole method of benefit delivery. The 2008 Farm Bill also de-obligated paper coupons as legal tender as of June 18, 2009. Therefore, paper coupons no longer have any value and can no longer be redeemed at any store. In line with EBT implementation and the elimination of coupons, these changes remove coupon issuance and EBT pilot regulations that are no longer applicable, revise regulatory language to more appropriately reflect the new EBT issuance system and the Program's new name, and reorganize sections to develop a more cohesive set of issuance regulations.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed collection. This is a new collection for the contract Assessing the Effect of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation on Food Security in the Post-American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Environment.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient claims are established and collected against households that receive more benefits than they are entitled to receive. This rulemaking corrects and clarifies provisions of the final rule on recipient claims published at 65 FR 41752 on July 6, 2000. The purposes of this final rulemaking are to remove a definition and several provisions that were made obsolete by the final rule; correct the typographical errors; correct the omission of the requirement that a copy of the claims management plan be submitted to the FNS Regional Office for informational purposes; reinforce current practices and requirements in the areas of fair hearings, fees, due dates, delinquent claims, retention, claim referrals, negligence and fraud; make conforming changes needed as a result of a subsequent rulemaking pertaining to a sponsor's responsibility for overissuances of an alien household; and to remove an overpayment exception that is no longer applicable to the Program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new information collection for the Special Nutrition Program Operations Study.