Food Stamp Program: Noncitizen Eligibility, and Certification Provisions of Pub. L. 104-193, as Amended by Public Laws 104-208, 105-33 and 105-185

This rule finalizes a proposed rule published February 29, 2000, amending Food Stamp Program (Program) regulations to implement several provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and subsequent amendments to these provisions made by the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1996 (OCAA), the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), and the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA). This action finalizes options related to matching activities, fair hearings and recipient services. This action finalizes provisions which would increase State agency flexibility in processing applications for the Program and allow greater use of standard amounts for determining deductions and self-employment expenses. This action also finalizes revisions to the requirements for determining alien eligibility and the eligibility and benefits of sponsored aliens, and requires certain transitional housing payments and most State and local energy assistance to be counted as income, excludes the earnings of students under age 18 from income, and requires proration of benefits following any break in certification. Other provisions of this final action establish ground rules for implementing the Simplified Food Stamp Program, allow State agencies options to issue partial allotments for households in treatment centers, count all, part, or, in some cases, none of the income of an ineligible alien in determining the benefits of the rest of the household, issue combined allotments to certain expedited service households, and certify elderly or disabled households up to 24 months and other households up to 12 months. The action also finalizes several changes to existing regulations in response to the President's reform initiative to remove overly prescriptive, outdated, and unnecessary regulatory provisions. The rule also makes final the proposals to add vehicles to the assets which may be covered under the inacc