Sneak Preview: FNS Amends SNAP Employment, Training Regulations

(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants 360 article.) State agencies administering Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment and training (E&T) programs will be required this spring to coordinate with their state workforce development boards to design their E&T programs to better streamline and enhance employment opportunities for SNAP recipients and comply with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (Pub. L. 113-128), under a new final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

Published in the Jan. 5 Federal Register, the rule amends FNS regulations at 7 C.F.R. 271 and 273. It finalizes many of the changes the agency proposed in March 2020, and becomes effective on March 8.

The final rule implements numerous changes that were required under section 4005 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334). “Through this legislation, Congress has tasked [FNS] and state agencies with reviewing and bolstering the quality and accountability of E&T programs for SNAP participants,” according to the final rule. FNS adds that the rule will “allow for more evidence-based components and require more accountability on the part of both state agencies and E&T participants, while also retaining state flexibility.”

Among the key changes include:

• replacing “job search” with “supervised job search,” which is defined as an E&T component (i.e., service) that occurs at state-approved locations at which the activities of participants are directly supervised, and the timing and activities of participants tracked in accordance with guidelines issued by the state SNAP agency;
• eliminating job finding clubs;
• replacing “job skills assessments” with “employability assessments,” which are more comprehensive and can help determine an individual’s readiness for employment by evaluating a set of cross-cutting skills (e.g., academic, interpersonal, critical thinking, communication).
• adding apprenticeships and subsidized employment as allowable activities;
• requiring state agencies to provide SNAP E&T job-retention services for a minimum of 30 days and maximum of 90 days, as compared to only requiring a 90-day maximum under current regulations; and
• allowing those activities from E&T pilots authorized under the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-79) that have had the most demonstrable impact on the ability of participants to find and retain employment that leads to increased income and reduced reliance on public assistance to become allowable E&T activities.

(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)

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