Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Update

January 16, 2010

Author: Cathy Roberts

New York Expands Its Transitional Food Stamp Program

OTDA has taken advantage of a federal option to expand New York’s  Transitional Benefits Alternative (TBA) program, which provides transitional food stamps to households with children who are leaving temporary assistance (TA).  TBA is an enhanced food stamp benefit provided for 5 months after the date of the TA case closing.

Before Farm Bill reauthorization in 2008, transitional food stamps were only available to TANF leavers.  Congress added a provision in the food stamp reauthorization legislation to extend the transitional food stamp option to households with children who are leaving state-funded cash assistance.

Effective December 1, 2009, New York’s TBA program was expanded to Safety Net Assistance leavers with children. In crafting their TBA expansion policy, OTDA relied on a policy memo issued by USDA in November 2008, which is available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Memo/2008/112008.pdf.  That policy memo broadly defines “household” and “child” for purposes of determining TBA eligibility and walks through various case examples, including the treatment of children on SSI whose parents are receiving cash assistance; households with ineligible immigrants; cases with sanctioned children; and minor heads of households.

OTDA issued its own implementing memo to districts, 09 ADM-22 ("Food Stamp Transitional Benefit Alternative (TBA) for Households with Children Leaving Safety Net Assistance"), available at http://www.otda.state.ny.us/main/directives/2009/ADM/09-ADM-22.pdf

UIB add-on now excluded as Food Stamp income

The $25 Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) add-on no longer counts as income for food stamp purposes, thanks to a provision in the UIB extension legislation signed into law by President Obama. The exclusion became effective as of November 9, 2009, the date of enactment., but USDA has chosen to extend the exclusion back to November 1, 2009, for administrative simplicity.

USDA has issued two memos to states about the change in law: 1) SNAP - Excluding $25 Unemployment Compensation Payments from Income and Resources” dated 11/19/2009.  Available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Memo/2010/111909.pdf. 2) SNAP - Excluding the Special Weekly UIB payment : Q&A, dated 12/1/09.  Available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Memo/2010/120109.pdf. 

As this article went to press, OTDA had not yet released any formal written guidance to districts.  It’s our understanding, though, that OTDA is working on implementing the change, and is planning to do a mass rebudget of affected households, rather than require workers to do manual budgets.  We anticipate that OTDA will be issuing some detailed guidance to districts fairly soon. 

There are some households who may fall between the cracks, because they are not currently receiving food stamps.  We would appreciate any help advocates can provide in getting the word out to these folks:  If you know of any household is not currently receiving food stamps who: 1) Lost eligibility for food stamps due to the $25 add-on or 2) Was denied food stamps before November 1, 2009, due to the $25 add-on  OR 3) Never applied but would be eligible now that $25 add-on is excluded PLEASE ADVISE THEM TO APPLY FOR FOOD STAMPS ASAP. The $25 add-on no longer counts as income beginning with the month of November 2009.

If you have any questions about this article, or about SNAP/food stamps in general, please contact Barbara Weiner (bweiner@empirejustice.org) or Cathy Roberts (croberts@empirejustice.org.