§276.4. Suspension/disallowance of administrative funds. — Inbound Citations

(2) State and/or local law shall not permit the imposition of tax on food paid for with coupons. FNS may terminate the issuance of coupons and disallow administrative funds otherwise payable pursuant to part 277 in any State where such taxes are charged. Action to disallow administrative funds shall be taken in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 276.4.

(8) If the data a State submits regarding its major change or other information FNS obtains indicates an adverse impact on SNAP access or integrity, FNS would work with the State to correct the cause of the problem and provide relevant technical assistance, and will require the State to provide additional information as it deems appropriate. Depending upon the severity of the problem, FNS may also require a formal corrective action plan as identified in § 275.16 and § 275.17 of this chapter. States agencies that fail to comply with reporting requirements may be subject to the suspension or disallowance of Federal Financial Participation administrative funds per § 276.4 of this chapter.

(18) If any review or evaluation of a State's operations, including photo EBT operation implementation, finds deficiencies, FNS may require a corrective action plan consistent with 7 CFR 275.16 to reduce or eliminate deficiencies. If a State does not take appropriate actions to address the deficiencies, FNS would consider possible actions such as requiring an updated photo EBT Implementation Plan, suspension of the photo EBT policy and/or withholding funds in accordance with 7 CFR 276.4.

(4) For each case that remains pending 115 days after the end of the sample month, the State agency shall immediately submit a report that includes an explanation of why the case has not been disposed of, documentation describing the progress of the review to date, and the date by which it will be completed. If FNS extends the time frames in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, this date will be extended accordingly. If FNS determines that the report in the first sentence of this paragraph (b)(4) does not sufficiently justify the case's pending status, the case shall be considered overdue. Depending upon the number of overdue cases, FNS may find the State agency's QC system to be inefficient or ineffective and suspend and/or disallow the State agency's Federal share of administrative funds in accordance with the provisions of § 276.4.

(a) When a State agency has failed to comply with provisions of the Act, the regulations issued pursuant to the Act, or the FNS-approved State Plan of Operation, and, thus, is subject to the suspension/disallowance and injunctive relief provisions in §§ 276.4 and 276.5, FNS may determine that the State had good cause for the noncompliance. FNS shall evaluate good cause in these situations on a case-by-case basis, based on any one of the following criteria:

(1) Natural disasters or civil disorders that adversely affect Program operations;

(2) Strikes by State agency staff;

(3) Change in SNAP or other Federal or State programs that result in a substantial adverse impact upon a State agency's management of the Program; and

(1) Whenever FNS asserts a claim against a State agency, the State agency may appeal the claim by requesting an administrative review. FNS claims that may be appealed are billings resulting from financial losses involved in the acceptance, storage, and issuance of coupons (§ 276.2), billings based on charges of negligence or fraud (§ 276.3), and disallowances of Federal funds for State agency failures to comply with the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, regulations, or the FNS-approved State Plan of Operations (§ 276.4).

(a) When a State agency has materially failed to comply with any of the provisions contained in the Act, regulations, or FNS-approved State Plan of Operation, FNS may, after written notification to the State agency, temporarily withhold some or all Federal reimbursements for costs of administration of SNAP in accordance with § 276.4. Adjustments will be made either by adjusting the Letter of Credit authorization or by not allowing the State agency to withdraw funds.

(1) All State agencies are required to sufficiently automate their SNAP operations and computerize their systems for obtaining, maintaining, utilizing and transmitting information concerning SNAP. Sufficient automation levels are those which result in effective programs or in cost effective reductions in errors and improvements in management efficiency, such as decreases in program administrative costs. Thus, for those State agencies which operate exceptionally efficient and effective programs, a lesser degree of automation may be considered sufficient than in other State agencies. In order to determine a sufficient level of automation in each State, each State agency shall develop an ADP/CIS plan. FNS may withhold State agency funds under § 276.4(a) for failure to submit an ADP/CIS plan in accordance with the deadlines for submission, for failure to make appropriate changes in their ADP/CIS plan within 60 days of their receipt of FNS comments, or for failure to implement the approved ADP/CIS plan in accordance with the dates specified therein, unless extensions of time or deviations from the plan or schedules have been approved by FNS.

(i) States' liability for payment error rates as determined above in paragraphs (d)(1) through (d)(3) of this section are not subject to the warning process of § 276.4(d) of this chapter.