Food Stamp Program; Electronic Benefit Transfer Benefit Adjustments

This action provides final rulemaking for an interim rule published on September 9, 1999. The final rule revises Food Stamp Program regulations pertaining to a State agency's ability to make an adjustment to a household's account in an Electronic Benefit Transfer system. It enables State agencies to make adjustments to correct system errors without sending households advance notice of the action but does require that households be notified of any such actions. The rule also defines the timeframes and other requirements for the adjustments. The final rule incorporates several changes in response to a number of comments the Department received on the interim rule. As a separate action, this regulation also adopts as final the requirements for re-presentation in the interim rule. State agencies may use re-presentation to recover funds when the host computer is inaccessible and there are insufficient funds to cover a manual transaction.