Food and Nutrition Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The final rule implements the employment and training (E&T) provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014. This section provided the Department additional oversight authority of State agencies' administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) E&T program; required the Department to develop reporting measures and required State agencies to report outcome data to the Department. It also required the Department to monitor and assess State agencies' effectiveness of E&T programs and provided the Department with the authority to require State agencies to make improvements to their programs as necessary. Finally, State agencies are required to submit reports on the impact of certain E&T components, and in certain States, the E&T services provided to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The final rule will strengthen the E&T program through the collection of information to determine the overall effectiveness of the E&T program in reaching the goal of assisting participants in obtaining the skills necessary to obtain and retain employment.

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 is a revision of a currently approved information collection form that organizations fighting hunger and poverty fill out to keep their information up to date for use by the general public.

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. The purpose of this information collection is to provide information on the implementation and effectiveness of modernization projects across all 88 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) State agencies to help identify successes, opportunities for improvement, and areas for additional support from FNS to strengthen project implementation.

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 revision of a currently approved collection. This information collection, the FNS-245, Negative Case Action Review Schedule, is designed to collect quality control (QC) data and serve as the data entry form for negative case action QC reviews in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Revisions to the form, its instructions, and burden hours are within.

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 associated with SNAP benefit storage and expungement provisions of the 2008 and 2018 Farm Bills. This collection is an extension, without change, of a currently approved collection. This collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice of State agency action to store unused SNAP benefits offline due to three or more months of account inactivity and for those households to seek reinstatement of benefits prior to permanent expungement. This collection is also for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice prior to the State agency expunging unused SNAP benefits from the household's Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) account due to nine months of account inactivity.

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 for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Health Outcomes and Participant Experience (HOPE) Study. This new information collection will provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with current information about the population WIC serves, how well WIC services align with participants' needs, and how WIC influences participants' health outcomes. This information will help policymakers and program administrators address service gaps and reduce potential disparities in health outcomes.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, USDA FNS is providing notice of a reestablished computer matching program between FNS and the State agencies that administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The matching program allows State agencies access to the Electronic Disqualified Recipient System (eDRS), a national database operated by FNS. The system maintains records of SNAP disqualifications imposed by State agencies on individuals who have been found to have committed an intentional program violation (IPV).

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 revision of a currently approved collection (OMB Number 0584-0646) for the 2027 Farm to School Census.

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 Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. 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 of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection. The purpose of this information collection request is to continue the use of the electronic form FNS- 674, titled "User Access Request Form." This form will continue to allow access to current FNS systems, modified access or to remove user access.

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 is a revision of currently approved information collection requirements associated with initiating collection actions against individuals/households (I/HH) who have received an overissuance in SNAP.

This proposed rule would amend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations to incorporate three provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 by adding to the program purpose language assisting low-income adults in obtaining employment and increasing their earnings; updating and defining the exceptions from the able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) time limit; and adjusting the number of discretionary exemptions available to State agencies each year. This proposed rule would also amend the regulations to clarify procedures for how and when State agencies must screen for exceptions to the time limit and clarify the verification requirements.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is extending for 120 days the public comment period on the interim final rule, "Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal Programs", which published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2023. This action extends the public comment period from April 29, 2024, to August 27, 2024, to give the public additional time to prepare and submit comments.

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 is a new information collection for the contract of the study titled "Evaluating the Interview Requirement for SNAP Certification." The purpose of this collection is to help FNS describe the effects of waiving the interview requirement, including SNAP agency processes and staff experiences with implementing the no-interview demonstration, analyzing the differences in outcomes for SNAP applicants and recipients, and identifying key lessons to inform future policy or implementation.

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 revision of a currently approved collection.

This rulemaking proposes important modifications to make the application of serious deficiency procedures in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program consistent, effective, and in line with current requirements under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The serious deficiency process provides a systematic way for State agencies and sponsoring organizations to correct serious management problems, and when that effort fails, protect Child Nutrition Program integrity through due process. In response to public comments received on a prior rulemaking, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) proposes improvements to ensure that application of the serious deficiency process is fair and fully implemented. FNS proposes to add clarity to the serious deficiency process by defining key terms, establishing a timeline for full correction, and establishing criteria for determining when the serious deficiency process must be implemented. This rulemaking will also address termination for cause and disqualification, implementation of legal requirements for records maintained on individuals on the National Disqualified List, and participation of multi-State sponsoring organizations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (``Department'') announces adjusted income eligibility guidelines to be used by State agencies in determining the income eligibility of persons applying to participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). These income eligibility guidelines are to be used in conjunction with the WIC Regulations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) requests comments from the publicincluding the food industry and research communityto help inform future policy and decisions about potentially updating Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) cost estimates for the State of Hawaii. Specifically, FNS invites comments and ideas about food price data for the State of Hawaiiincluding communities in the State outside of the County of Honoluluthat may be available, potentially accessible to FNS, and of sufficient quality, format, sample size, and recent period to be used potentially by FNS to make cost adjustments for the State of Hawaii to the TFP pursuant to section 3(u)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, as amended. Comments must be received on or before March 4, 2024.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make available an option to States to provide summer meals for non-congregate meal service in rural areas with no congregate meal service and to establish a permanent summer electronic benefits transfer for children program (Summer EBT) for the purpose of ensuring continued access to food when school is not in session for the summer. This interim final rule amends the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program's Seamless Summer Option (SSO) regulations to codify the flexibility for rural program operators to provide non-congregate meal service in the SFSP and SSO, collectively referred to as the summer meal programs. This rule also establishes regulations and codifies the Summer EBT Program in the Code of Federal Regulations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed to make changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program's Quality Control (SNAP QC) system to strengthen and improve the integrity and accuracy of the system and to better align SNAP QC with requirements in the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA). When published, the proposed rule included an incorrect email address for comments; the reopening of the comment period is intended to allow additional time for the public to submit comments in the event the original comment submission was returned as undeliverable due to the incorrect email address.

This rule finalizes provisions of a proposed rule published on June 27, 2022. With this final rule, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is revising Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations that cover collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data by State agencies on persons receiving benefits from SNAP. This rule removes regulatory language that provides an example that State agencies might collect race and ethnicity data by observation (also referred to as ``visual observation'') when participants do not voluntarily provide the information on the application form. In addition, based on feedback from the commenters, this rule prohibits using visual observation as a data collection method for race and ethnicity. Through this rulemaking, FNS intends to improve the quality of data collected for purposes of Federal civil rights law and policy including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service is committed to promoting equity and inclusion through its Federal nutrition assistance programs. This regulatory change is consistent with this Administration's priorities and furthers FNS' commitment to building equitable and inclusive systems for nutrition access.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection for the reporting and recordkeeping burden associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) regulations.

This notice announces the surplus and purchased foods that the Department expects to make available for donation to States for use in providing nutrition assistance to the needy under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The foods made available under this notice must, at the discretion of the State, be distributed to eligible recipient agencies (ERAs) for use in preparing meals and/or for distribution to households for home consumption.

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 revision of a currently approved collection. This information collection includes the requirement for case management services to individuals participating in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) program as mandated by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (FNA), as amended. The current information collection also includes four other provisions of the FNA and SNAP regulations that are being merged into other existing information collections. Those provisions include State agencies notifying individuals who have been determined ill-suited by an E&T provider for a particular E&T component; State agency notification to inform Able- bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD) about work requirements and the ABAWD time limit through a written notice and oral explanation; the requirement that State agencies inform SNAP households not otherwise exempt from the general work requirements in writing of available employment and training services at the time of recertification if these individuals are members of households that contain at least one adult, with no elderly or disabled individuals, and with no earned income at the their last recertification or required report; and the addition of four data elements to the FNS-583 reports (SNAP Employment and Training Program Activity Report).