§272.1. General terms and conditions. — Inbound Citations

(e) The requirements for participation in the SAVE Program shall be included in an attachment to the State agency's Plan of Operation as required in § 272.2(d). This document shall include a description of procedures used, method of access and the agreement specified in paragraph (b) of this section, including steps taken to meet requirements of limiting disclosure and safeguarding of information obtained from SNAP households as specified in § 272.1.

(ii) The provisions of § 272.1(b) regarding the prohibition of State or local sales taxes on foods purchased with SNAP coupons shall be implemented on October 1 of the calendar year during which the first regular session of each State's Legislature is convened following enactment of Pub. L. 99-198 (enacted December 23, 1985). A “regular session” means a scheduled session of a State's legislature convened to address the usual range of statutory and budgetary issues. A “budgetary” session of a legislature shall be considered a “regular session” if State rules allow for statutory issues to be introduced at these “budgetary” sessions even if rules governing these special procedures are stringent.

(A) FNS may approve a delay in the above implementation date if a State provides FNS a request documenting that such date would either:

(1) Have an adverse and disruptive effect on the administration of SNAP in such State; or

(2) would provide inadequate time for retail stores to implement required changes in sales tax policy.

(B) FNS has no authority to approve any State implementation schedule with an effective date later than October 1, 1987.

(v) The safeguards limiting release or redisclosure as required by State or Federal law or regulation as discussed in § 272.1(c) and as may be required by other guidelines published by the Secretary; and

(1) State agencies shall maintain and use an income and eligibility verification system (IEVS), as specified in this section. By means of the IEVS, State agencies may request wage and benefit information from the agencies identified in this paragraph (a)(1) and use that information in verifying eligibility for and the amount of SNAP benefits due to eligible households. Such information may be requested and used with respect to all household members, including any considered excluded household members as specified in § 273.11(c) of this chapter whenever the SSNs of such excluded household members are available to the State agency. If not otherwise documented, State agencies must obtain written agreements from these information provider agencies affirming that they must not record any information about individual SNAP households and that staff in those agencies are subject to the disclosure restrictions of the information provider agencies and § 272.1(c). The information provider agencies, at a minimum, are:

(i) The State Wage Information Collection Agency (SWICA) which maintains wage information;

(ii) The Social Security Administration (SSA) which maintains information about net earnings from self-employment, wages, and payments of retirement income, which is available pursuant to section 6103(1)(7)(A) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Code; and information which is available from SSA regarding Federal retirement, and survivors, disability, SSI and related benefits;

(iii) The IRS from which unearned income information is available pursuant to section 6103(1)(7)(B) of the IRS Code; and

(iv) The agency administering Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) which maintains claim information and any information in addition to information about wages and UIB available from the agency which is useful for verifying eligibility and benefits, subject to the provisions and limitations of section 303(d) of the Social Security Act.

(5) All State agency hearing records and decisions shall be available for public inspection and copying, subject to the disclosure safeguards provided in § 272.1(c), and provided identifying names and addresses of household members and other members of the public are kept confidential.

(v) Information from the disqualified recipient database is subject to the disclosure provisions in § 272.1(c) of this chapter and the routine uses described in the most recent “Notice of Revision of Privacy Act System of Records” published in the Federal Register.

(vii) The provisions of § 272.1(c) of this chapter restricting the use and disclosure of information obtained from SNAP households is applicable to the administration of the workfare program.

(K) Draft memoranda of understanding if the State agency plans to share SNAP client data in accordance with 7 CFR 272.1(c) for purposes of implementing its photo EBT card option. The memoranda of understanding must state how any information collected will be securely stored and that the information can only be shared for the purpose of SNAP in accordance with 7 CFR 272.1(c).

(5) Include assurances that information in the IS as well as access, use and disposal of IS data will be safeguarded in accordance with provisions of § 272.1(c) (disclosure) and § 277.13 (property);

(v) Include assurances that information in the IS as well as access, use and disposal of IS data will be safeguarded in accordance with provisions of §§ 272.1(c) (disclosure) and 277.13 (property) of this chapter;

(8) Information obtained from the NAC is subject to the disclosure provisions in § 272.1(c)(4). State agencies shall not use information obtained from the NAC for any purpose other than to prevent duplicate participation.

(1) Decisions of the hearing authority shall comply with Federal law and regulations and shall be based on the hearing record. The verbatim transcript or recording of testimony and exhibits, or an official report containing the substance of what transpired at the hearing, together with all papers and requests filed in the proceeding, shall constitute the exclusive record for a final decision by the hearing authority. This record shall be retained in accordance with § 272.1(f). This record shall also be available to the household or its representative at any reasonable time for copying and inspection.

(3) In accordance with § 272.1(f) of this chapter, State agencies are required to retain records concerning the frequency of noncompliance with FSP work requirements and the resulting disqualification actions imposed. These records must be available for inspection and audit at any reasonable time to ensure conformance with the minimum mandatory disqualification periods instituted.

(1) The State agency shall maintain issuance, inventory, reconciliation, and other accountability records for a period of three years as specified in § 272.1(f) of this chapter. This period may be extended at the written request of FNS.

(159) The provisions in § 277.11(d) regarding time limits for State agencies to file claims to amend a prior expenditure report to request retroactive funding for costs previously incurred are effective October 1, 2000. The conforming amendment to SNAP regulations in §§ 272.1(g), 272.2(c)(3), 272.11(d) and (e), 274.12(k), 277.4(b) and (g), 277.9(b), 277.18(b), (d), and (f), and 2 CFR part 200, subpart D and USDA implementing regulations 2 CFR part 400 and part 415 are effective June 23, 2000.

(iv) Regulations published October 17, 1978 (43 FR 47846) which implement major aspects of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 provide for the conversion of cases via a desk review (§ 272.1(g)(1)(iii)). Desk converted cases would be converted to the new eligibility criteria for income and deductions but may not have been converted to the new criteria for resources, work registration, tax dependency, etc. Therefore, States will have households participating in the program based on some of the eligibility criteria of the 1964 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. Desk converted cases as provided in § 272.1(g)(1)(iii) and cases which should have been converted via desk review (some cases may not undergo the conversion process as required), shall be subject to standard QC review procedures. When the QC reviewer detects a variance in one of these cases which results from an element of eligibility which was not converted and was not required to have been converted, the reviewer shall disregard the variance. When the reviewer detects a variance in a case when an element of eligibility was, or should have been converted, the reviewer shall handle the variance like any other QC variance as identified in § 275.12 of these regulations. It is possible that desk converted cases may continue to show up in QC samples through February 1980.

(B) State agencies which cannot readily identify households entitled to restoration of lost benefits due to the circumstances described in § 272.1(g)(14)(i) must issue a one-time-only press release to notify households which have participated since October 1, 1979 of possible entitlement to restoration of lost benefits. State agencies may, at their option, use additional means of notification such as posters.

(ii) 349 adopt as final, without change, interim provisions published September 29, 1987 and are effective as of the date the corresponding interim provision became effective as established at 7 CFR 272.1(g)(93). These provisions and the effective dates are: § 271.2, definition of “Homeless individual,” July 22, 1987; § 272.5, July 22, 1987; § 273.9(a)(3), October 1, 1988; § 271.2, definition of “General assistance,” April 1, 1987; § 273.9(b)(2)(i), April 1, 1987; § 273.9(c)(1) (ii)(A), (ii)(B) and (ii)(C), April 1, 1987; § 273.9(d)(7)(i), October 1, 1987; § 273.9(d)(8)(i), October 1, 1987 (except for the last sentence, which is effective October 1, 1988). The provisions do not change policy or procedures under which State agencies are currently operating and, therefore, do not require specific implementation efforts by State agencies.