[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 235 (Monday, December 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64556-64557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31973]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Consumer Service
RIN 0584-AC58


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 for 
Fiscal Year 1998 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 since the amounts were last 
calculated.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice is effective December 8, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Margaret Werts Batko, Assistant Branch 
Chief, Certification Policy Branch, Program Development Division, Food 
and Consumer Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center 
Drive, Alexandria, VA 22302, or telephone at (703) 305-2516. The e-mail 
address is [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Implementation

    As required by Section 3(o) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (the 
Act), 7 U.S.C. 2012 (o), State agencies should have implemented this 
action on October 1, 1997, based on advance notice of the new amounts. 
As required by regulations published at 47 FR 46485 (October 19, 1982), 
annual statutory adjustments to the maximum allotment levels and income 
eligibility standards are issued by General Notices published in the 
Federal Register and not through rulemaking proceedings.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice 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 (OMB).

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 29916, 
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

    The Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services has 
certified that this action will not have a significant economic impact 
and will not have an 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. However, this money will be 
distributed among all eligible food stamp vendors, so the effect on any 
one vendor will not be significant.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This action does not contain reporting or record keeping 
requirements subject to review by OMB pursuant to the provisions of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507.

Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA)

    Title II of UMRA establishes requirements for Federal agencies to 
assess the effects of their regulatory actions on State, local, and 
tribal governments and the private sector. Under Section 202 of the 
UMRA, FCS generally must prepare a written statement, including a cost-
benefit analysis, for proposed and final rules with ``Federal 
mandates'' that may result in expenditures to State, local, or tribal 
governments, in the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 
million or more in any one year. When such a statement is needed for a 
rule, section 205 of the UMRA generally requires FCS to identify and 
consider a reasonable number of regulatory alternatives and adopt the 
least costly, more cost-effective or least burdensome alternative that 
achieves the objectives of the rule.
    This notice contains no Federal mandates (under the regulatory 
provisions of Title II of the UMRA) for State, local, and tribal 
governments or the private sector of $100 million or more in any one 
year. Thus today's rule is not subject to the requirements of Sections 
202 and 205 of the UMRA.

Background

Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) and Allotments

    As provided for in Section 3(o) of the Act, 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 provides for a diet required to feed a family of four persons 
consisting of a man and woman aged 20 to 50, a child 6 to 8 and a child 
9 to 11. The cost of the TFP is adjusted monthly to reflect changes in 
the costs of the food groups.
    The TFPs for Alaska and Hawaii are based on an adjusted average for 
the six-month period that ends with June 1997. 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 1997 TFP costs. The adjusted 
average is equal to January-June 1997 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 in 1986 
(a 1.53 percent increase over January-June costs in Alaska and 1.82 
percent increase in Hawaii).
    For the period January through June 1997, the average cost of the 
TFP was $502.90 in Alaska, and $645.50 in Hawaii. The proxy in Alaska 
for actual June 1997 TFP costs was $510.59. This proxy is multiplied by 
three separate adjustment factors to create three TFPs for Urban 
Alaska, Rural I Alaska, and Rural II Alaska. The proxy in Hawaii for 
actual June 1997 TFP costs was $657.24. The June 1997 cost of the TFP 
was $602.20 in Guam and $525.30 in the Virgin Islands.
    The maximum food stamp allotment is paid to households that have no 
net income. For households with some type of income, their allotments 
are determined by reducing the maximum allotment for their household 
size by 30 percent of the household's net income in accordance with 
Section 8 (a) of the Act, 7 U.S.C. 2017 (a). To obtain the maximum food 
stamp allotment for each household size, the TFP costs are divided by 
four, multiplied by the appropriate household size and economy of scale 
factor, and the final result rounded down to the nearest dollar.

[[Page 64557]]

    Pursuant to Section 3 (o) (3) of the Act, maximum food stamp 
benefits for Guam and the Virgin Islands cannot exceed those in the 50 
States and the District of Columbia, so they are based upon either the 
lower of their respective TFPs or the TFP for rural II Alaska.



                            Maximum Allotment Amounts \1\--October 1997, as Adjusted                            
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                                       Urban       Rural I      Rural II                                Virgin  
          Household  Size              Alaska       Alaska       Alaska       Hawaii      Guam \2\   Islands \2\
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1.................................         $154         $196         $239         $197         $180         $157
2.................................          283          360          439          361          331          288
3.................................          405          516          628          517          474          413
4.................................          514          656          798          657          602          525
5.................................          611          779          948          780          715          623
6.................................          733          935        1,138          936          858          748
7.................................          810        1,033        1,257        1,035          948          827
8.................................          926        1,181        1,437        1,183        1,083          945
Each Additional Member............         +116         +148         +180         +148         +135         +118
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\1\ Adjusted to reflect the cost of food in June, adjustments for each household size, economies of scale, and  
  1.00 percent of the TFP and rounding.                                                                         
\2\ Adjusted to reflect changes in the cost of food in the 48 States and D.C., which correlate with price       
  changes in these areas. Maximum allotments in these areas cannot exceed those in Rural II Alaska.             

    Dated: November 17, 1997.
Yvette S. Jackson,
Administrator, Food and Consumer Services.
[FR Doc. 97-31973 Filed 12-5-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-U