[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2730-2731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-637]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Consumer Service
RIN: 0584-AB97


Food Stamp Program: Maximum Allotments for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, 
and the Virgin Islands

AGENCY: Food and Consumer Service, USDA.

ACTION: General notice.

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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.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith M. Seymour, Supervisor, 
Eligibility and Certification Regulations Section, Certification Policy 
Branch, Program Development Division, Food Stamp Program, Food and 
Consumer Service, USDA, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, (703) 305-2496.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Publication

    As required by law, State agencies implemented this action on 
October 1, 1994 based on advance notice of the new amounts. Based on 
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 rule 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.

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 29116, 
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

    Ellen Haas, 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 issued to participating households. However, this 
money will be distributed among the relevant area's food vendors as the 
food stamps are used by households, so the effect on any one vendor 
will not be significant.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This action does not contain reporting or recordkeeping 
requirements subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget.

Background

Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) and Allotments

    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 suggests amounts of food for men, 
women, and children of different ages, and it meets most dietary 
standards. The cost of the TFP is adjusted monthly to reflect changes 
in the costs of the food groups.
    TFPs for Alaska and Hawaii are based upon an adjusted average for 
the six-month period that ends with June 1994. 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 1994 TFP costs. The adjusted 
average is equal to January-June 1994 TFP costs for Alaska and Hawaii 
increased by the average percentage difference between the cost of the 
TFP in Alaska and Hawaii in June and the January-June average from 1976 
through 1986 (a 1.53 percent increase over January-June costs in Alaska 
and a 1.82 percent increase in Hawaii).

[[Page 2731]]

    For the period January through June 1994, the average cost of the 
TFP was $459.90 in Alaska, a decrease since last year, and $615.30 in 
Hawaii. The proxies for actual June 1994 TFP costs were $466.94 in 
Alaska and $626.50 in Hawaii. The June 1994 cost of the TFP was $553.20 
in Guam and $482.50 in the Virgin islands.
    The TFP is also the basis for establishing food stamp allotments. 
Food stamp allotments are adjusted periodically to reflect changes in 
food cost levels. Section 3(o)(11) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977, as 
amended (7 U.S.C. 2012(o)(11)) provides for an adjustment on October 1, 
1994, based upon 103 percent of the June 1994 cost of the TFP for a 
family of four persons consisting of a man and woman ages 20-50 and 
children ages 6-8 and 9-11.
    The maximum food stamp benefit or allotment is paid to households 
which have no net income. For households which have some income, their 
allotment is determined by reducing the maximum allotment for their 
household size by 30% of the household's net income. To obtain the 
maximum food stamp allotment for each household size, the TFP costs for 
the four-person household were increased by 3 percent, divided by four, 
multiplied by the appropriate household size and economy of scale 
factor, and the final result was rounded down to the nearest dollar.
    Because the decrease in the Alaska TFP would have caused a 
subsequent drop in maximum food stamp allotments, on October 13, 1994, 
the President signed into law P.L. 103-345. This law prohibits the 
Secretary from reducing food stamp allotments for Alaska on October 1, 
1994 based on a TFP cost that was lower than the cost of the TFP for 
Alaska in June 1993. This law is effective September 30, 1994. As a 
result of this action, the food stamp allotments for Alaska published 
in this notice are the same as last year's.
    Pursuant to section 3(o)(3) of the Food Stamp Act (7 U.S.C. 
2012(o)(3), maximum food stamp benefits for Guam and the Virgin Islands 
cannot exceed those in the 50 States and D.C., so they are based upon 
the lower of their respective TFPs or the TFP for rural II Alaska. In 
addition, the urban Alaska allotment is the higher of the allotment 
that was in effect in urban areas on October 1, 1985 or 100.79 percent 
of the adjusted Anchorage TFP (see 50 FR 18456, dated May 1, 1984, and 
51 FR 16281, dated May 2, 1986).
    The following table shows new allotments for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, 
and the Virgin Islands.

                            Maximum Allotment Amounts \1\--October 1994, As Adjusted                            
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                                       Urban       Rural I      Rural II                                Virgin  
          Household size             Alaska \2\   Alaska \3\   Alaska \4\     Hawaii      Guam \5\   Islands \5\
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1.................................         $147         $188         $229         $193         $170         $149
2.................................          271          345          420          354          313          273
3.................................          388          495          602          508          448          391
4.................................          492          628          765          645          569          496
5.................................          585          746          908          766          767          590
6.................................          702          895         1090          919          811          708
7.................................          776          990         1204         1016          897          782
8.................................          887         1131         1377         1161         1025          894
Each additional member............         +111         +141         +172         +145         +128         +112
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\1\ Adjusted to reflect the cost of food in June, adjustments for each household size, economies of scale, a    
  1.03 percent increase in the TFP and rounding, except Alaska which by P.L. 103-345 has been held at the 1993- 
  94 levels.                                                                                                    
\2\ These levels are 100.79 percent of the Anchorage TFP, as adjusted.                                          
\3\ These levels are 128.52 percent of the Anchorage TFP, as adjusted.                                          
\4\ These levels are 156.42 percent higher than the Anchorage TFP, as adjusted.                                 
\5\ Adjusted to reflect changes in the cost of food in the 48 States and DC, 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 DC were published in a 
separate notice in the Federal Register. These adjustments were 
announced sooner than the adjustments for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the 
Virgin Islands because the data to accomplish the update for the 48 
States and DC were available sooner than the data for the other areas 
covered by this notice.

(7 U.S.C. 2011-2032)

    Dated January 4, 1995.
Ellen Haas,
Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services.
[FR Doc. 95-637 Filed 1-10-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-U