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Raised maximum allotments to 100.65% of the TFP for the
preceding June for FY 1989, 102.05% for FY 1990, and
103% for FY 1991 and thereafter. |
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Eliminated 9/30/89 expiration of categorical eligibility
provisions. |
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Required prospective budgeting for households not
required to report monthly and retrospective budgeting
for monthly-reporting. Permitted State agencies to
require periodic reporting, except for migrant workers,
the homeless, and elderly and disabled households with
no earnings. |
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Required that eligible households applying after the
15th of the month receive one combined allotment for the
initial month and first subsequent month. Repealed rule
that requires first full month's issuance by the 8th
calendar day for households applying after the 15th of
the preceding month. |
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Provided that State agencies receive 50% Federal funding
for optional activities which inform low-income
households about the FSP. |
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Made permanent the amendment in the Homeless Eligibility
Clarification Act that exempts residents of shelters
from ineligibility as residents of institutions. |
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Provided for the Secretary's approval of deviations from
USDA application form if State forms are easy to use,
brief and readable. Required applications to contain a
description of expedited processing requirements and
information that benefits are provided only from the day
of application. |
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Required State agencies to provide applicants a clear
written statement about the verification process and
needed documentation and assist applicants in obtaining
verification and completing the application process.
Prohibited State agencies from requiring additional
verification on currently verified information unless
information is believed to be inaccurate, incomplete, or
inconsistent. |
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Required State agencies finding improper denials,
terminations, or underissuances to restore benefits and
take action to prevent similar errors. |
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Permitted State agencies to provide intensive training
for personnel certifying households with a member who is
engaged in farming. Required the Secretary to publish
instructional materials on certifying farm households
within 180 days of enactment and annually thereafter. |
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Relettered Sec. 16(h) as 16(j) to correct an error in
the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. |
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Required State agencies to provide for prompt and
accurate certification. Provided States the option to
provide training and assistance to volunteer or
nonprofit organization staff who provide program
information and eligibility screening for potential
eligibles. |
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Required States to provide at each certification and
recertification a statement of reporting
responsibilities and toll-free, local, or collect phone
numbers. |
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Provided for waiving office interviews if all household
members are elderly or handicapped, live in a location
not served by a certification office, or have
transportation difficulties or similar hardship, and
permitted telephone interviews or home visits instead. |
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Excluded cash income if it would be received in-kind
except for the household's participation in a
federally-authorized demonstration project. |
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Gave households with irregular expenses related to
farming the option to have those expenses and the farm
income averaged over 12 months. |
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Required the Secretary to exclude the value of farm
land, equipment and supplies for a period of one year
after a household member ceases to be self-employed in
farming. |
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Clarified that the energy assistance income exclusion is
for any governmental payment or allowance for the
purpose of providing energy assistance. |
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Authorized the Secretary to impose a civil money penalty
up to $20,000 in lieu of permanent disqualification for
food stamp trafficking violations where there is
substantial evidence that a store had an effective
policy and program in effect to prevent violations. |
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Extended disabled status to recipients of interim
assistance pending receipt of SSI, disability-related
medical assistance under Title XIX of the SSA, or
disability-based State general assistance if the
disability or blindness criteria are at least as
stringent as those in Title XVI of the SSA. |
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Required State agencies to develop a method of claiming
the medical deduction for recurring medical expenses
without monthly verification after initial verification
to ease the administrative burden on elderly and
disabled households with such expenses who choose the
optional method. |
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Required State agencies to implement two joint
processing provisions that have been optional: inclusion
of the FSP application in the PA application for pure PA
households and, to the extent PA casefiles are
reasonably verified, certify FSP applicants with PA
casefiles for the FSP; and required that AFDC applicants
be notified that they may file a food stamp application
along with their AFDC application and have a single FSP/AFDC
interview. |
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Excluded as income Earned Income Tax Credit payments
received in advance. |
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Revised the dependent care deduction to $160 per
dependent excluding costs paid by E&T; provided an
income exclusion for payments for work-related expenses
or dependent care under E&T. |
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Employment and Training Program |
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Permitted States to approve other E&T components
in accordance with regulations and authorized
educational programs/activities to improve basic
skills or otherwise improve employability or
expand job search abilities. |
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Required State agencies to have a conciliation
process for resolving disputes over E&T
participation. |
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Prohibited Federal funds for E&T activities from
supplanting non-Federal funds. |
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Required State agencies to pay for or reimburse
participants for the actual cost of 1)
transportation and other costs up to $25 a month
or higher at State agency option and 2)
dependent care up to $160 per month per
dependent except for AFDC recipients in areas
which have AFDC employment and training or
education programs or had them on 9/19/88. |
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Limited performance standards to 50% until
implementation of new standards; required the
Secretary to establish performance standards
(after consultation with Office of Technology
Assessment (OTA), Labor, HHS, State officials,
other experts and representatives of
participating households) that are coordinated
with JTPA and AFDC standards, measure employment
outcomes, and are based on the degree of success
that may be reasonably expected of States in
helping individuals achieve self-sufficiency.
The performance standards shall take into
account volunteer participants, placement rates,
wage rates, retention rates, reductions in food
stamp caseload, and educational improvements and
shall encourage serving households with greater
barriers to employment. Final performance
standards must be published and implemented by
April 1, 1991. |
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Required the Secretary to develop and transmit
to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees a
proposal to tie Federal E&T funding to the
relative effectiveness of the States'
activities. |
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Provided an income exclusion for AFDC
employment, training or education program
reimbursements/payments for dependent care or
other expenses if the program is initiated after
9/19/88. |
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Required 50% Federal funding for State agencies'
E&T reimbursements/payments for dependent care,
transportation and other costs. |
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Permitted one or more pilot projects to test whether the
use of intelligent benefit cards or other automated or
electronic benefit delivery systems can enhance the
efficiency and effectiveness of program operations.
Intelligent benefit cards are required to include
information on an individual's eligibility and benefits. |
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Authorized the Secretary to study E&T by comparing E&T
program participants and appropriate control groups on
factors of employment, income, and receipt of food
stamps and other assistance payments. To the maximum
extent possible, data is to be collected for 3 years
after E&T participation ends and yield results that can
be generalized to the national E&T Program. |
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Payment Accuracy Improvement System |
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Provided that the Secretary must consider a
State agency's new dollar investment to improve
administration when deciding whether to settle,
adjust, or waive error-rate liability claims. |
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Required a State agency which fails to pay an
error-rate liability claim within 30 days of
receiving the bill to pay interest from the day
of receipt. If the claim is appealed, the
interest starts to accrue on the date of the
decision on the appeal, or from a date two years
after the bill is first received, whichever
comes first. If a State agency pays a claim
(including through withholding) and wins on
appeal, the payment will be returned with
interest from the date of the payment. |
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Provided for an administrative review process
using administrative law judges for error-rate
liability and stipulated that the decision of
the Secretary that there is no good cause that a
State agency failed to meet its error rate
tolerance target is final. Deleted the trial de
novo requirement for judicial reviews of
error-rate liability claims. |
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Provided for enhanced Federal funding of State
agencies' administrative costs of one percentage
point, up to 60%, for each full .1 percentage
point a State agency's payment error rate falls
below six percent, as long as a ceiling for
invalid denials is not exceeded. States not
receiving enhanced funding must develop and
implement corrective action plans to reduce
payment errors. If a State agency's payment
error rate exceeds the tolerance rate, the State
agency must pay the Secretary the difference
between its payment error rate and the tolerance
rate times its annual issuance. Payment error
rate means the sum of point estimates of
overpayment and underpayment rates from a
probability sample. Errors resulting from a
change of regulations within 60 days (or, at the
Secretary's option, 90 days) won't be counted as
payment errors. Nor will errors resulting from
correctly- processed data from Federal agencies
or written policy disseminated by the USDA.
State agencies must provide data necessary for
the determination of payment error rates or USDA
will use pertinent information that is
available. The Secretary will publish a national
performance measure as a sum of State payment
error rates weighted by allotments. The national
performance measure will be used to establish a
payment error tolerance level, which will be one
percentage point above the lowest national
performance measure over achieved. |
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The Secretary must study: 1) the feasibility of
including improper denials and terminations in
the payment error rate and report to Congress by
7/1/90 and 2) the effectiveness of the payment
improvement system and report to Congress with
recommendations by 9/19/91. |
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Provided that a sequestration under Gramm/Rudman/Hollings
would result in a reduction in the TFP adjustments to
equal $110 million times the percentage reduction
ordered for domestic programs. |
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Under WIC demonstration projects, coupons that may be
exchanged for food at farmers' markets are excluded from
income and resources. |
