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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 73 / Wednesday, April 16, 1997 / Notices
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on those who are to respond, including
through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or
other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology. Comments may be sent to:
Michael E. Fishman, Acting Director,
Office of Analysis and Evaluation, Food
and Consumer Service, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive,
Alexandria, VA 22302.
All responses to this notice will be
summarized and included in the request
for Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) approval. All comments will also
become a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the proposed information
collection forms should be directed to
Michael E. Fishman, (703) 305–2117.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Tracking Nutrition Security
Changes: State Choices and the National
Food Stamp Program.
OMB Number: Not yet assigned.
Expiration Date: Not applicable.
Type of Request: New collection of
information.
Abstract: The new welfare reform law,
the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996,
grants States a number of options in
how they administer the Food Stamp
Program. The Tracking Nutrition
Security Changes Study will provide the
USDA Food and Consumer Service with
information on the nature and extent of
States’ decisions since the passage of the
new law. The study will collect and
synthesize information on State choices,
primarily in three programmatic areas:
eligibility determination, benefit
calculation, and work requirements. The
study will also assess the variance of
food stamp policy choices across States
and the implementation of these choices
at the local food stamp office level.
Information will be collected from
States in two stages. First, descriptive
information will be collected from all 50
State food stamp agencies by telephone
interviews to identify the nature and
scope of selected State food stamp
choices. Next, on-site interviews with
key informants will be conducted in 10
to 15 States. These data will be collected
for a qualitative analysis of
implementation issues and descriptions
of specific agency practices.
Affected Public: State and local
governments, State nonprofit
organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
One or two State food stamp officials
will respond from each of the 50 States
for the telephone survey. An average of
20 State and local government and
nonprofit officials in each of up to 15
States will respond to on-site
interviews, for a maximum total of 300
on-site interview respondents.
Estimated Time per Response: Phone
interviews will average 60 minutes per
State. On-site interviews will average 90
minutes per respondent.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on
Respondents: 500 hours.
Dated: April 7, 1997.
William E. Ludwig,
Administrator, Food and Consumer Service.
[FR Doc. 97–9741 Filed 4–15–97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–30–U
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Consumer Service
RIN 0584–AC54
Food Stamp Program: Maximum
Allotments for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam,
and the Virgin Islands
AGENCY: Food and Consumer Service,
USDA.
ACTION: General notice.
SUMMARY: By this notice, the
Department of Agriculture is updating
the maximum food stamp allotments for
participating households in Alaska,
Hawaii, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
These annual adjustments, required by
law, take into account changes in the
cost of food and statutory adjustments
since the amounts were last calculated.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Margaret Werts Batko, Assistant Branch
Chief, Certification Policy Branch,
Program Development Division, Food
and Consumer Service, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive,
Alexandria, VA 22302, or telephone at
(703) 305–2516.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Implementation
As required by Section 3(o) of the
Food Stamp Act of 1977 (the Act), 7
U.S.C. 2012(o), State agencies should
have implemented this action on
October 1, 1996 based on advance
notice of the new amounts. As required
by regulations published at 47 FR 46485
(October 19, 1982), annual statutory
adjustments to the maximum allotment
levels, income eligibility standards, and
deductions are issued by General
Notices published in the Federal
Register and not through rulemaking
proceedings.
Executive Order 12866
This notice has been determined to be
not significant for purposes of Executive
Order 12866 and therefore has not been
reviewed by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB).
Executive Order 12372
The Food Stamp Program is listed in
the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance under No. 10.551. For the
reasons set forth in the Final rule and
related notice to 7 CFR Part 3015,
Subpart V (48 FR 29916, June 24, 1983),
this program is excluded from the scope
of Executive Order No. 12372 which
requires intergovernmental consultation
with State and local officials.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Under Secretary for Food,
Nutrition, and Consumer Services has
certified that this action will not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The action will increase the amount of
money spent on food through increases
in food stamp benefits. However, this
money will be distributed among all
eligible food stamp vendors, so the
effect on any one vendor will not be
significant.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This action does not contain reporting
or record keeping requirements subject
to review by OMB pursuant to the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507.
Background
Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) and Allotments
As provided for in Section 3(o) of the
Act, the TFP is a plan for the
consumption of foods of different types
(food groups) that families might use to
provide nutritious meals and snacks for
family members. The plan provides for
a diet required to feed a family of four
persons consisting of a man and woman
aged 20 to 50, a child 6 to 8 and a child
9 to 11. The cost of the TFP is adjusted
monthly to reflect changes in the costs
of the food groups.
The TFPs for Alaska and Hawaii are
based on an adjusted average for the six-
month period that ends with June 1996.
Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the
source of food price data) no longer
publishes monthly information to
compute Alaska and Hawaii TFPs, the
adjusted average provides a proxy for
actual June 1996 TFP costs. The
adjusted average is equal to January-
June 1996 TFP costs for Alaska and
Hawaii increased by the average
percentage difference between the cost
of the TFP in Alaska and Hawaii in June
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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 73 / Wednesday, April 16, 1997 / Notices
and the January-June average from 1976
through 1986 (a 1.53 percent increase
over January-June costs in Alaska and
1.82 percent increase in Hawaii).
For the period January through June
1996, the average cost of the TFP was
$491.50 in Alaska, and $625.20 in
Hawaii. The proxy in Alaska for actual
June 1996 TFP costs was $499.02. This
proxy is multiplied by three separate
adjustment factors to create three TFPs
for Urban Alaska, Rural I Alaska, and
Rural II Alaska. The proxy in Hawaii
was $636.57. The June 1996 cost of the
TFP was $590.40 in Guam and $515.00
in the Virgin Islands.
The TFP is also the basis for
establishing food stamp allotments.
‘‘Allotment’’ is defined in Section 3(a)
of the Act as ‘‘the total value of coupons
a household is authorized to receive
during each month.’’ Food stamp
allotments are adjusted periodically to
reflect the changes in food cost levels
indicated in the changing amounts of
the TFP. Prior to the amendment of
Section (3)(o) of the Act by Section 804
of the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996,
Pub. Law 104–193, on August 22, 1996,
allotment amounts were established on
each October 1 at 103 percent of the cost
of the TFP in the previous June.
Amended Section 3(o)(4) of the Act now
provides that the TFP will be adjusted
each October 1 to reflect the exact cost,
or 100 percent, of the TFP for the
previous June. This provision was
implemented by the Department as a
requirement of the Food Stamp Program
on October 1, 1996, without prior notice
and comment due to the binding, non-
discretionary nature of the statutory
provision. In accordance with 5 U.S.C.
553(b)(3)(B), the Department has
determined that good cause existed to
justify such implementation. In a
subsequent rulemaking, the Department
will issue a corresponding regulatory
change to 7 CFR 273.10(e)(4)(ii).
The maximum food stamp allotment
is paid to households that have no net
income. For households with some type
of income, their allotments are
determined by reducing the maximum
allotment for their household size by 30
percent of the household’s net income
in accordance with Section 8(a) of the
Act, 7 U.S.C. 2017(a). To obtain the
maximum food stamp allotment for each
household size, the TFP costs are
divided by four, multiplied by the
appropriate household size and
economy of scale factor, and the final
result rounded down to the nearest
dollar.
Section 804 of Pub. L. 104–193 also
amended Section 3(o) of the Act to
prohibit reducing food stamp allotments
for Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 below those in
effect on September 30, 1996. In FY
1996, Alaska (Urban, Rural I and II) and
Hawaii maximum food stamp
allotments for a four person household
were $510, $650, $791, and $663,
respectively. Based on the formula
discussed above, FY 1997 allotments
would have fallen below FY 1996 levels
to $502, $641, $780, and $636,
respectively. Consequently, in
accordance with the law, the food stamp
allotments for Alaska and Hawaii
published in this notice will remain the
same as last year’s.
Pursuant to Section 3(o)(3) of the Act,
maximum food stamp benefits for Guam
and the Virgin Islands cannot exceed
those in the 50 States and the District of
Columbia, so they are based upon the
lower of their respective TFPs or the
TFP for rural II Alaska.
MAXIMUM ALLOTMENT AMOUNTS 1.—OCTOBER 1996, AS ADJUSTED
Household size
Urban
Alaska 2
Rural I
Alaska 2
Rural II
Alaska 2
Hawaii 2
Guam 3
Virgin Is-
lands 3
1 ....................................................................................................
$153
$195
$237
$198
$177
$154
2 ....................................................................................................
280
357
435
364
324
283
3 ....................................................................................................
401
512
623
522
464
405
4 ....................................................................................................
510
650
791
663
590
515
5 ....................................................................................................
605
772
939
787
701
611
6 ....................................................................................................
726
926
1127
945
841
733
7 ....................................................................................................
803
1024
1246
1044
929
811
8 ....................................................................................................
918
1170
1424
1193
1062
927
Each additional member ...............................................................
+115
+146
+178
+149
+133
+116
1 Adjusted to reflect the cost of food in June, adjustments for each household size, economies of scale, and 1.00 percent of the TFP and
rounding.
2 Held at FY 1996 levels as a result of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.
3 Adjusted to reflect changes in the cost of food in the 48 States and the District of Columbia, which correlate with price changes in these
areas. Maximum allotments in these areas cannot exceed those in Rural II Alaska.
Maximum allotments for the 48 States
and the District of Columbia are
published in a separate notice in the
Federal Register. Adjustments covered
by this notice are announced for Alaska,
Hawaii, Guam, and the Virgin Islands
only, reflecting revisions required by
changes in the cost of food and Pub.
Law 104–193.
(7 U.S.C. 2011–2034)
Dated: April 4, 1997.
William E. Ludwig,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97–9858 Filed 4–15–97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–30–U
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Consumer Service
RIN 0584–AC53
Food Stamp Program: Maximum
Allotments for the 48 States and the
District of Columbia, and Income
Eligibility Standards and Deductions
for the 48 States and the District of
Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and
the Virgin Islands
AGENCY: Food and Consumer Service,
USDA.
ACTION: General notice.
SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is
to update for Fiscal Year 1997: the
maximum allotment levels, which are
the basis for determining the amount of
food stamps which participating
households receive, the gross and net
income limits for food stamp eligibility,
the standard deduction available to
certain households, and the homeless
household shelter allowance. These
adjustments, required by law, take into
account changes in the cost of living
and statutory adjustments since the
amounts were last calculated.
DATES: The effective date of this notice
regarding the adjustment of the
maximum allotments was October 1,