food stamp act of 1977 - Virginia Employment Commission

FOOD STAMP ACT OF 1977
[As Amended Through P.L. 106-171, Feb. 11, 2000] TABLE OF CONTENTS
U.S.C. Act Sec. Page
7 U.S.C.
2011 note 1. Short title
........................................................ 1-2
2011 2. Declaration of policy ....................................... 1-2
2012 3. Definitions .......................................................
1-2
2013 4. Establishment of the food stamp program ... 1-8
2014 5. Eligible households ......................................... 1-9
2015 6. Eligibility disqualifications ............................ 1-22
2016 7. Issuance and use of coupons .......................... 1-39
2017 8. Value of allotment .......................................... 1-46
2018 9. Approval of retail food stores and wholesale
food concerns and wholesale food concerns.
1-48
2019 10. Redemption of coupons ................................ 1-50
2020 11. Administration .............................................. 1-51
2021 12. Civil money penalties and disqualification
of retail food stores and wholesale food concerns.
1-63
2022 13. Collection and disposition of claims ............ 1-66
2023 14. Administrative and judicial review ............. 1-68
2024 15. Violations and enforcement ......................... 1-70
2025 16. Administrative cost-sharing and quality
control.
1-72
2026 17. Research, demonstration, and evaluations 1-83
2027 18. Authorization for appropriations ................. 1-94
2028 19. Block grant .................................................... 1-
95
2029 20. Workfare ........................................................
1-98
2030 21. Demonstration of Family Independence
Program.
1-99
2031 22. Food stamp portion of Minnesota Family
Investment Plan.
1-103
2032 23. Automated data processing and information
retrieval systems.
1-111
2033 24. Territory of American Samoa ...................... 1-112
2034 25. Assistance for community food projects ...... 1-113
2035 26. Simplified food stamp program ................... 1-114
2036 27. Availability of commodities for the emergency
food assistance program.
1-116
General notes ................................................ 1-117
Bracketed material and footnotes did not appear in Acts. AN ACT
To strengthen the agricultural economy; to help to achieve a fuller
and more effective use of food abundances; to provide for improved
levels of nutrition among low-income households
through a cooperative Federal-State program of food assistance
to be operated through normal channels of trade; and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, [7 U.S.C. 2011
Note] That this Act may be cited as the ''Food Stamp Act of 1977''.
DECLARATION OF POLICY
SEC. 2. [7 U.S.C. 2011] It is hereby declared to be the policy
of Congress, in order to promote the general welfare, to safeguard
the health and well-being of the Nation's population by raising levels
of nutrition among low-income households. Congress hereby
finds that the limited food purchasing power of low-income house-holds
contributes to hunger and malnutrition among members of
such households. Congress further finds that increased utilization
of food in establishing and maintaining adequate national levels of
nutrition will promote the distribution in a beneficial manner of the
Nation's agricultural abundance and will strengthen the Nation's
agricultural economy, as well as result in more orderly marketing
and distribution of foods. To alleviate such hunger and malnutrition,
a food stamp program is herein authorized which will permit
low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet through
normal channels of trade by increasing food purchasing power for
all eligible households who apply for participation.
DEFINITIONS
SEC. 3. [7 U.S.C. 2012] As used in this Act, the term:
(a) ''Allotment'' means the total value of coupons a household
is authorized to receive during each month.
(b) ''Authorization card'' means the document issued by the
State agency to an eligible household which shows the allotment
the household is entitled to be issued.
(c) ''Certification period'' means the period for which households
shall be eligible to receive authorization cards. The certification period
shall not exceed 12 months, except that the certification period
may be up to 24 months if all adult household members are elderly
or disabled. A State agency shall have at least 1 contact with each
certified household every 12 months.
(d) ''Coupon'' means any coupon, stamp, type of certificate, authorization
card, cash or check issued in lieu of a coupon, or access
device, including an electronic benefit transfer card or personal
identification number, issued pursuant to the provisions of this Act.
(e) ''Coupon issuer'' means any office of the State agency or any
person, partnership, corporation, organization, political subdivision,
or other entity with which a State agency has contracted for, or to
which it has delegated functional responsibility in connection with,
the issuance of coupons to households.
(f) ''Drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation
program'' means any such program conducted by a private nonprofit
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3-1 So in original. Probably, ''or are'' should be ''and''.
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organization or institution, or a publicly operated community mental
health center, under part B of title XIX of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x et seq.) to provide treatment that can
lead to the rehabilitation of drug addicts or alcoholics.
(g) ''Food'' means (1) any food or food product for home consumption
except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and hot foods or hot
food products ready for immediate consumption other than those
authorized pursuant to clauses (3), (4), (5), (7), (8), and (9) of this
subsection, (2) seeds and plants for use in gardens to produce food
for the personal consumption of the eligible household, (3) in the
case of those persons who are sixty years of age or over or who receive
supplemental security income benefits or disability or blindness
payments under title I, II, X, XIV, or XVI of the Social Security
Act [(42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.)], and their spouses, meals pre-pared
by and served in senior citizens' centers, apartment buildings
occupied primarily by such persons, public or private nonprofit
establishments
(eating or otherwise) that feed such persons, private
establishments that contract with the appropriate agency of the
State to offer meals for such persons at concessional prices, and
meals prepared for and served to residents of federally subsidized
housing for the elderly, (4) in the case of persons sixty years of age
or over and persons who are physically or mentally handicapped or
otherwise so disabled that they are unable adequately to prepare
all of their meals, meals prepared for and delivered to them (and
their spouses) at their home by a public or private nonprofit organization
or by a private establishment that contracts with the appropriate
State agency to perform such services at concessional prices,
(5) in the case of narcotics addicts or alcoholics, and their children,
served by drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation
programs, meals prepared and served under such programs, (6) in
the case of certain eligible households living in Alaska, equipment
for procuring food by hunting and fishing, such as nets, hooks, rods,
harpoons, and knives (but not equipment for purposes of transportation,
clothing, or shelter, and not firearms, ammunition, and ex-plosives)
if the Secretary determines that such households are located
in an area of the State where it is extremely difficult to reach
stores selling food and that such households depend to a substantial
extent upon hunting and fishing for subsistence, (7) in the case of
disabled or blind recipients of benefits under title I, II, X, XIV, or
XVI of the Social Security Act, or are 3-1 individuals described in
paragraphs (2) through (7) of subsection (r), who are residents in
a public or private nonprofit group living arrangement that serves
no more than sixteen residents and is certified by the appropriate
State agency or agencies under regulations issued under section
1616(e) of the Social Security Act or under standards determined by
the Secretary to be comparable to standards implemented by appropriate
State agencies under such section [(42 U.S.C. 1382e(e))],
meals prepared and served under such arrangement, (8) in the case
of women and children temporarily residing in public or private
nonprofit shelters for battered women and children, meals prepared
and served, by such shelters, and (9) in the case of households that
do not reside in permanent dwellings and households that have no
fixed mailing addresses, meals prepared for and served by a public
or private nonprofit establishment (approved by an appropriate
State or local agency) that feeds such individuals and by private- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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3-2 Effective September 1, 1994, section 13931(1)(B) of the Mickey Leland
Childhood
Hunger Relief Act, Public Law 103-66, 107 Stat. 676, amended the first
sentence of section
3(i) by striking '', or (3) a parent of minor children and that parent's
children'' and
all that follows through ''parents and children, or siblings, who live
together'' and inserting
''. Spouses who live'' and all that follows through ''exercising parental
control'' as flush to
the left margin matter. The amendment was executed as a run-on amendment to
effectuate
the probable intent of Congress.
3-3 So in original. Probably, ''or are'' should be ''and''.
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