[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 29661]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-13854]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2001 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 29661]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service

7 CFR Parts 272 and 273

RIN 0584-AC39


Food Stamp Program: Personal Responsibility Provisions of the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 
1996; Delay of Effective Date

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule; delay of effective date.

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SUMMARY: The final rule, ``The Personal Responsibility Provisions of 
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 
1996,'' was published on January 17, 2001 at FR 66 4438. The rule 
finalizes the proposed rule of the same name which was published 
December 17, 1999. It implements 13 provisions of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The 
original effective date of the rule (with the exception of one 
amendment) was April 2, 2001. In accordance with the memorandum of 
January 20, 2001, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of 
Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Review Plan,'' published in the Federal 
Register on January 24, 2001, the effective date of the rule was 
delayed for 60 days to June 1, 2001, via an action published in the 
Federal Register on February 5, 2001 at 66 FR 8886. The Under Secretary 
of the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services and has just recently 
been confirmed and has not yet been sworn-in. In order to give the new 
Under Secretary time to review the rule, this action delays the 
effective date of the final rule (with the exception of one amendment) 
an additional 60 days to July 31, 2001.
    In addition, the State agencies were required to implement the 
final rule no later than August 1, 2001. Because the rule will not be 
effective now until July 31, 2001, this action establishes a new 
implementation date of October 1, 2001.

DATES: The effective date of the Personal Responsibility Provisions of 
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 
1996, published in the Federal Register, on January 17, 2001, at 66 FR 
4438, is delayed for an additional 60 days, from June 1, 2001 to a new 
effective date of July 31, 2001, except for the amendment to 7 CFR 
272.2(d)(1)(xiii) which retains the effective date of August 1, 2001. 
The implementation date of the final rule is delayed for 60 days from 
August 1, 2001, to a new implementation date of October 1, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Waldron, Chief, Certification 
Policy Branch, Program Development Division, Food and Nutrition 
Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia, 22302, 
(703) 305-2495.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To the extent that 5 U.S.C. section 553 
applies to this section, it is exempt from notice and comment because 
it constitutes a rule of procedure under 5 U.S.C. section 553(b)(A). 
Alternatively, the Department's implementation of this rule without 
opportunity for public comment, effective immediately upon publication 
today in the Federal Register, is based on the good cause exceptions in 
5 U.S.C. section 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3). Seeking public comment is 
impracticable, unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. The 
temporary 60-day delay in effective date is necessary to give 
Department officials the opportunity for further review and 
consideration of new regulations, consistent with the Assistant to the 
President's memorandum of January 20, 2001. Given the imminence of the 
effective date, seeking prior public comment on this temporary delay 
would have been impractical, as well as contrary to the public interest 
in the orderly promulgation and implementation of regulations. The 
imminence of the effective date is also good cause for making this rule 
effective immediately upon publication.

    Dated: May 29, 2001.
George A. Braley,
Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 01-13854 Filed 5-31-01; 8:45 am]
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