On June 12, 1997, Congress passed and the President
signed into law the FY1997 supplemental appropriations act (P.L. 105-18
— see copy of legislation attached). This law includes new authority for
states to purchase food stamps from the federal government for use in a
state-funded food assistance program for legal immigrants(1).
This legislation provides states with important new flexibility to provide
food assistance to legal immigrants who are ineligible for federal food
stamps under the new welfare law. Without this change, states wishing to
aid these immigrants would have faced the prospect of having to establish
expensive and burdensome parallel food voucher programs. A state-funded
food stamp program is likely to be the most cost-effective means for providing
targeted food assistance to vulnerable state residents who will no longer
be eligible for federal food stamp benefits.
Ten states — California,
Florida, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Nebraska,
New Jersey, New
York, Rhode Island,
Texas and Washington,
— are purchasing federal food stamps for state-funded food assistance.
Minnesota is providing food assistance in cash but may provide state-funded
food stamps in the future. Still other states will be considering legislation
to provide state-funded food stamps in the near future. In light of recent
congressional action on the federal budget agreement, more states may become
interested in providing some form of temporary or ongoing food assistance
to low-income immigrants.
Because many legal immigrants will retain their SSI, the state cost of extending food assistance to legal immigrants will be reduced. The legal immigrant households that would retain their SSI under the budget agreement will still have incomes too low to cover their food needs and will continue to require food assistance. (The federal SSI benefit level for a single individual is only 75 percent of the poverty line.) However, since many will have some income as a result of the expected change in SSI rules, states wishing to fill the assistance gap created by the change in federal food stamp law will face a much lower cost.
Complete Flexibility in Structuring their
State-Funded Program
The new legislation does not contain any requirements
that the eligibility rules or the structure or level of benefits under
a state-funded program remain equivalent to the federal food stamp program.
States have tremendous flexibility to design a food assistance program
for poor immigrants that meets both their programmatic and budgetary needs.
Food stamps are simply the means by which state-funded and state-designed
food assistance can be distributed to immigrant households.
Although states can design their own food stamp
rules for their state-funded program, a benefit structure that parallels
the existing food stamp program is likely to be preferable to most other
options for several reasons.
States Could Use TANF Funds and Receive Credit
Towards their TANF "MOE" for Providing Food Assistance for Some Families
States may want to consider using federal TANF funds
to cover some of the cost of purchasing food stamps for certain legal immigrant
families. TANF funds may be used to provide assistance to households that
include children and that are needy as defined by the state TANF income
standards. (Most states have set the TANF income standards below the food
stamps standards.) However, if federal TANF funds are used for this purpose,
this food assistance will make these families subject to the federal TANF
time limits, work participation rates, and other federal TANF prohibitions
and requirements. Therefore, states may want to use TANF funds only for
those families that are receiving other types of TANF-funded assistance
to ensure that the provision of food assistance does not subject families
to time limits that will restrict needed help in the future. Similarly,
states may not want to use TANF funds for food assistance if the effect
would be to bring into TANF work requirements families for whom those requirements
may not be appropriate. It may make more sense for the state to use state
funds to provide food assistance for these families.
Under HHS guidelines,
states could receive credit towards their TANF maintenance of effort (MOE)
requirement for state funds spent providing food assistance to some legal
immigrant households. The assistance provided to eligible families through
a state-funded food assistance program is not subject to TANF restrictions
such as the 60-month time limit or the work participation rates.(3)
States would be allowed to count funds used to serve legal immigrant households
with children whose income falls below the income thresholds in the state's
TANF-funded program. This would mean that the state would not receive MOE
credit for serving households comprised solely of elderly or disabled legal
immigrants. Nor could they count assistance provided to working poor households
with children whose income makes the family ineligible for TANF but still
leaves them in need of food assistance. Nonetheless, a considerable portion
of a state-funded food assistance program could be credited to the TANF
MOE.(4) USDA estimates that some 40 percent
of immigrant households who received food stamps in 1995 also received
AFDC. Approximately 65 percent of the immigrant households on food stamps
during that same year, were households with children.
Requirements for States Choosing to Purchase
Coupons
While states have the flexibility to design a state-funded
program of their choosing, the legislation does provide some guidelines
for states electing to purchase food stamps for use in their own program.
States May Want to Consider Moving Quickly
to Elect this Option
This state purchase option is permanently available
to all states, i.e, there is no legal deadline by which states must
decide if they will elect the option or not. However, the welfare law
terminates federal food stamp assistance to almost one million legal immigrants
by August 1997. Among those losing benefits are children, elderly and disabled
immigrants, low-income workers, and refugees who have been in the country
for more than five years. These terminations are already being phased in
and will soon be complete. Also, transitioning current recipients to a
state-funded program will be cheaper, easier and more reliable than doing
the work to cut them off and then take reapplications. If states wish to
continue to provide food assistance to legal immigrants once the federal
benefits are eliminated or if they wish to temporarily "cushion the blow"
of the federal cuts, they will need to act quickly.
Conclusion
This new option for states to purchase food stamps
provides states with a cost-effective means for providing targeted food
assistance to low-income legal immigrants. Under the new federal law, states
can assure that vulnerable low-income residents do not lose critical food
assistance.
STATE OPTION TO ISSUE FOOD STAMP BENEFITS TO CERTAIN
INDIVIDUALS
MADE INELIGIBLE BY
WELFARE REFORM
(a) IN GENERAL — Section 7 of the Food Stamp Act
of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2016) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting after "necessary, and" the following:
"(except as provided in subsection (j)"; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
''(j) STATE OPTION TO ISSUE BENEFITS TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS
MADE INELIGIBLE BY WELFARE REFORM —
''(1)
IN GENERAL — Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a State agency
may, with the approval of the Secretary, issue benefits under this Act
to an individual who is ineligible to participate in the food stamp program
solely as a result of section 6(o)(2) of this Act or section 402 or 403
of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612 or 1613).
''(2)
STATE PAYMENTS TO SECRETARY. —
''(A)
IN GENERAL. — Not later than the date the State agency issues benefits
to individuals under this subsection, the State agency shall pay the Secretary,
in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary, an amount that
is equal
to —
''(I)
the value of the benefits; and
''(ii)
the costs of printing, shipping, and redeeming coupons, and other Federal
costs, incurred in providing the benefits, as determined by the Secretary.
''(B)
CREDITING. — Notwithstanding section 3302(b) of title 31, United States
Code, payments received under subparagraph (A) shall be credited to the
food stamp program appropriation account or the account from which the
costs were drawn, as appropriate, for the fiscal year in which the payment
is received.
''(3)
REPORTING. — To be eligible to issue benefits under this subsection, a
State agency shall comply with reporting requirements established by the
Secretary to carry out this subsection.
''(4)
PLAN. — To be eligible to issue benefits under this subsection, a State
agency shall—
''(A)
submit a plan to the Secretary that describes the conditions and procedures
under which the benefits will be issued, including eligibility standards,
benefit levels, and the methodology the State agency will use to determine
amounts due the Secretary under paragraph (2); and
''(B)
obtain the approval of the Secretary for the plan.
''(5)
VIOLATIONS. — A sanction, disqualification, fine, or other penalty prescribed
under Federal law (including sections 12 and 15) shall apply to a violation
committed in connection with a coupon issued under this subsection.
''(6)
INELIGIBILITY FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REIMBURSEMENT. — Administrative and other
costs incurred in issuing a benefit under this subsection
shall not be eligible for Federal funding under
this Act.
''(7)
EXCLUSION FROM ENHANCED PAYMENT ACCURACY SYSTEMS. — Section 16© shall
not apply to benefits issued under this subsection."
(b) CONFORMING
AMENDMENTS. — Section 17(b)(1)(B)(iv) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7
U.S.C. 2026(b)(1)(B)(iv)) is amended —
(1) in subclause (V), by striking "or" at the end;
(2) in subclause (VI), by striking the period at the end and inserting
";or"; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
"(VII) waives a provision of section 7(j).".
1. The new legislation would also permit states to purchase food stamps from the federal government for use in a state-funded food assistance program for individuals subject to the three-month food stamp time limit.
2. There is one exception. Under the Balanced Budget Act, Cuban and Haitian Entrants as well as certain Amerasian immigrants will be treated as refugees for the purposes of food stamp eligibility. These immigrants, therefore, would be eligible to receive food stamps for their first five years in the United States.
3. The federal requirements differ for assistance provided with TANF funds, segregated TANF/state funds, and separate state funds. See HHS Policy Announcement No. TANF-ACF-PA-97-1, January 31, 1997; and Guyer, State Funding Requirements Under the New Welfare Law, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, April 15, 1997.
4. States
do not have to serve the families that meet the MOE requirements under
a separate food assistance program in order to count the cost of assistance
provided to them towards the state's MOE requirement. States can serve
all legal immigrants under a state-funded food assistance program and then
identify the assistance provided to these families for MOE reporting purposes.