[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