[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 24667-24669]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9260]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Parts 262 and 265
TANF Assistance and Electronic Benefit Transfer Transactions;
Request for Public Comment
AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration
for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA).
[[Page 24668]]
ACTION: Request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) is interested in
learning about how States deliver Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families (TANF) assistance to beneficiaries, whether States have
implemented policies and practices to prevent electronic benefit
transfer transactions involving TANF assistance in liquor stores,
casinos, gambling casinos, or other gaming establishments, and retail
establishments which provide adult-oriented entertainment in which
performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment;
what the States' experiences have been in implementing such policies
and practices; and whether States place other similar types of
restrictions on assistance usage. OFA also is interested in learning
about States' current approaches to ensuring that recipients have
adequate access to their cash assistance, including policies that
provide access to assistance with no fees or charges or current
approaches to imposing fees or charges in connection with receipt of
assistance, along with other information relevant to considering what
might be minimal fees or charges. Additionally, OFA is interested in
hearing the perspectives of vendors, consumer advocates, and any other
individuals or entities that have information that could be relevant to
the development and implementation of policies and procedures to
prevent electronic benefit transfer transactions in certain
establishments, and to ensuring access to cash assistance with minimal
fees or charges, including opportunities to access assistance without
fees or charges.
The information provided will be used to inform OFA as it develops
regulations to implement Section 4004 of the Middle Class Tax Relief
and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-96), which, among other
things, requires States to prevent the use of TANF assistance in
electronic benefit transfer transactions at specified locations.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
ADDRESSES section below on or before June 11, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons may submit written comments by any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected] Please include
``Comments on EBT Federal Register Notice'' in the subject line of the
message.
Mail or Courier Delivery: Robert Shelbourne, Office of
Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, 901 D
Street SW., 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20447.
Instructions: If you choose to use an express, overnight, or other
special delivery method, ensure that delivery may be made at the
address listed under the ADDRESSES section. We urge interested parties
to submit comments electronically to ensure that they are received in a
timely manner. All comments received will be posted without change to
http://www.regulations.gov. This will include any personal information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Shelbourne, Office of Family
Assistance, 901 D Street SW., 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20447, (202)
401-5150.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 22, 2012, President Obama signed
the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-
96). Section 4004 of the Act requires States (but does not require
Tribes) to prevent the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) assistance in electronic benefit transfer (EBT) transactions at
specified locations. In particular, the law requires States receiving
TANF grants ``to maintain policies and practices as necessary to
prevent assistance provided under the State program funded under this
part from being used in any electronic benefit transfer transaction in
any liquor store; any casino, gambling casino, or gaming establishment;
or any retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment
in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for
entertainment.'' The law defines an electronic benefit transfer
transaction as ``the use of a credit or debit card service, automated
teller machine, point-of-sale terminal, or access to an online system
for the withdrawal of funds or the processing of a payment for
merchandise or a service.''
The law imposes a new reporting requirement as well as a new
penalty. Each State is required to report to HHS by February 22, 2014,
on its implementation of policies and practices related to restricting
recipients' use of EBT cards at the locations specified in the previous
paragraph. As required by the law, HHS shall reduce a State's block
grant if the State fails to comply with this reporting requirement or
if, based on the information that the State reports, HHS finds that the
State has not implemented and maintained the required policies and
practices. Furthermore, States are required to include in their State
plans a statement outlining how they intend to implement policies and
procedures to prevent access to assistance through electronic fund
transfer transactions at casinos, liquor stores, and establishments
providing adult-oriented entertainment. The State plan also must
include an explanation of how the State plans to ensure that (1)
recipients of the assistance have adequate access to their cash
assistance, and (2) recipients of assistance have access to using or
withdrawing assistance with minimal fees or charges, including an
opportunity to access assistance with no fee or charges, and are
provided information on applicable fees and surcharges that apply to
electronic fund transactions involving the assistance, and that such
information is made publicly available.
The Office of Family Assistance is seeking responses to the
following questions to help inform us as we draft the regulation to
implement the statutory requirement. We do not intend to respond to
comments provided in response to this Request for Public Comment.
However, in the notice of proposed rulemaking, we will provide a
general summary of the comments that influenced our policy decisions,
and will respond to comments submitted in response to the notice of
proposed rulemaking when a final rule is issued.
Questions
Please identify the question to which you are responding.
Benefit Delivery System
1. What method or methods of delivery does your State use to
provide TANF assistance? For example, does the State use checks, direct
deposit into recipient checking account, Electronic Benefit Transfer
(EBT) cards, Electronic Payment Cards (EPC) (co-branded with Visa or
MasterCard)?
2. For each method used, does the State currently track the site at
which a transaction occurs? If the State is able to identify the site
at which a transaction occurs, what process does or would the State
need to initiate to determine if the site was a liquor store, gaming
establishment or adult entertainment venue? Are there different issues
for different types of venues?
Implementing EBT Restrictions
3. For those with knowledge of what has happened in a State or
States that have implemented some form of EBT transaction restriction:
a. What is the nature of your restriction? Please provide as much
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specificity as possible, including the definitions used for any
establishment type for which TANF benefit access was restricted. If the
State's restriction appears to differ from the EBT transaction
restriction contained in section 4004 of the Middle Class Tax Relief
and Job Creation Act of 2012, please describe those differences.
b. Was the restriction put in place in response to a legislative
mandate or by executive action without a specific legislative mandate?
If in response to a legislative mandate, what did the legislature
require?
c. If your State imposes EBT transaction restrictions relating to
liquor stores, casinos, gambling casinos, or other gaming
establishments, or retail establishments which provide adult-oriented
entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed
state for entertainment, can you please indicate: which of these
locations are subject to restriction, and what is the definition used
to describe the restricted location?
d. What specific method and procedures does the State use?
e. What challenges to implementation have been encountered and how
did the State address them?
f. Please provide any information available concerning initial and
continuing costs.
g. Does the State identify locations where benefit access is to be
restricted through a manual process, an automated process or some
combination of the two? Please describe the process for identifying
these locations.
h. Has your State implemented what you consider an effective method
of restricting access to EBT usage at specified locations? Please
describe why you think it is effective (e.g. cost effective, achieves
desired outcomes)?
i. What concerns have been raised by businesses, electronic benefit
vendors, and/or TANF recipients, relating to access, cost, or other
issues, in relation to the restrictions? Have particular concerns been
raised relating to rural areas of the State? If so, what are those
concerns, and how, if at all, have those concerns been addressed?
j. If your State passes through child support to families receiving
TANF assistance, how, if at all, do the TANF assistance restrictions
affect provision of passed-through child support?
k. Are your State's restrictions limited to TANF assistance, or do
they affect any other benefits provided electronically? If the
restrictions are limited to TANF assistance, how, if at all, do
restrictions on accessing TANF assistance affect access to any other
benefits?
l. Are there particular issues not discussed above that have arisen
in design or implementation that could be useful for OFA to be aware of
in the development of regulations relating to this topic?
4. With regards to States that have not implemented EBT transaction
restrictions, have you considered and examined issues relevant to
implementation of such restrictions? If so, can you identify issues and
considerations that have arisen for you as you considered such
requirements?
5. For any State, do you currently have information about the
incidence of the use of TANF assistance EBT transactions in liquor
stores, gaming establishments, and adult entertainment venues?
Access Fees or Charges
6. With respect to any State, please describe the fees and charges
that TANF recipients face when accessing their TANF assistance
benefits. If the fees or charges differ based on number of withdrawals
or where or how benefits are accessed (such as via an ATM vs. point of
sale transaction), please describe the differences in fees under all
relevant benefit access mechanisms.
7. Does your State provide any mechanism that allows TANF
assistance recipients to access benefits without facing any fees or
charges? If so, please describe.
8. How, if at all, does your State make information available to
TANF assistance recipients about where to access TANF benefits, the
fees and charges associated with accessing benefits under various
scenarios, and how benefits can be accessed without any fees or
charges?
9. What, if anything, do you think should be done to reduce the
costs of accessing TANF benefits?
10. Please describe any access barriers, that you think TANF
assistance recipients currently face or could face under the
restrictions and what mechanisms, if any, you think could reduce those
access barriers while ensuring that TANF benefits are not accessed
through EBT transactions at those establishments for which access is
restricted under section 4004 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job
Creation Act of 2012.
EBT Vendor Input
11. For companies that provide electronic benefit services to
States with respect to TANF assistance, please describe the
implementation issues you think States could or would face in
implementing the restriction required under section 4004 of the Middle
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Please describe
technical issues, cost implications, and access implications as well as
mechanisms for addressing problems identified.
We welcome any other comments you have about the TANF EBT
provisions contained in Section 4004 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and
Job Creation Act of 2012.
Dated: April 5, 2012.
Earl Johnson,
Director, Office of Family Assistance.
[FR Doc. 2012-9260 Filed 4-24-12; 8:45 am]
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