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(i) The term “bank" means member or nonmember banks of the Federal Reserve System.

(j) The term "State" means the fifty States and the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States."1

(k) The term "food stamp program" means any program promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this Act.

(1) The term "elderly person" shall mean a person sixty years of age or over who is not a resident of an institution or boarding house, and who is living alone, or with spouse, whether or not he has cooking facilities in his home.12

(m) The term "authorization to purchase card" means any document issued by the State agency to an eligible household which shows the face value of the coupon allotment the household is entitled to be issued on presentment of such document and the amount to be paid by such household for such allotment.12

(n) The term "drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program" means any drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program conducted by a private nonprofit organization or institution which is certified by the State agency or agencies designated by the Governor as responsible for the administration of the State's programs for alcoholics and drug addicts pursuant to Public Law 91-616 "Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Act" and Public Law 92-255 "Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act of 1972" as providing treatment that can lead to the rehabilitation of drug addicts or alcoholics.13 (7 U.S.C. 2012).

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM

SEC. 4. (a) The Secretary is authorized to formulate and administer a food stamp program under which, at the request of the State agency, eligible households within the State shall be provided with an opportunity to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet through the issuance to them of a coupon allotment which shall have a greater monetary value than the charge to be paid for such allotment by eligible households. The coupons so received by such households shall be used only to purchase food from retail food stores which have been approved for participation in the food stamp program. Coupons issued and used as provided in this Act shall be redeemable at face value by the Secretary through the facilities of the Treasury of the United States.14 (b) In areas where the food stamp program is in operation, there shall be no distribution of federally donated foods to households under the authority of any other law except that distribution thereunder may be made: (1) during temporary emergency situations when the Secretary 15 determines that commercial channels of food distribution

11 Subsection (j) was amended by Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2048, approved January 11, 1971, to add Guam Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

12 Subsections (1) and (m) were added by Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2048, 2049, approved January 11, 1971. New subsection (n) was added by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 246, approved August 10, 1973.

Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2049, approved January 11, 1971, deleted the words "more nearly" which appeared between the words "opportunity" and "to" and after the word "than" replaced "their normal expenditures for food" with the new wording at the end of the first sentence of (a) and added in (b) additional circumstances under which the Food Stamp and Food Distribution Programs might be operated in the

same area.

See the Disaster Relief Act of 1970, Pub. L. 91-606, 84 Stat. 1755, approved December 31, 1970, authorizing Presidential determinations regarding availability of food stamps in a major disaster.

have been disrupted; (2) for such period of time as the Secretary determines necessary, to effect an orderly transition in an area in which the distribution of federally donated foods to households is being replaced by a food stamp program; or (3) on request of the State agency: Provided, That the Secretary shall not approve any plan established under this Act which permits any household to simultaneously participate in both the food stamp program and the distribution of federally donated foods under this clause (3).15

(c) The Secretary shall issue such regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, as he deems necessary or appropriate for the effective and efficient administration of the food stamp program. (7 U.S.C. 2013).

ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS

SEC. 5.16 (a) Except for the temporary participation of households that are victims of a disaster as provided in subsection (b) of this section, participation in the food stamp program shall be limited to those households whose income and other financial resources are determined to be substantial limiting factors in permitting them to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet.

(b) The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, shall establish uniform national standards of eligibility for participation by households in the food stamp program and no plan of operation submitted by a State agency shall be approved unless the standards of eligibility meet those established by the Secretary. The standards established by the Secretary, at a minimum, shall prescribe the amounts of household income and other financial resources, including both liquid and nonliquid assets, to be used as criteria of eligibility: Provided, That such standards shall take into account payments in kind received from an employer by members of a household, if such payments are in lieu of or supplemental to household income: Provided further, That such payments in kind shall be limited only to housing provided by such employer to such employee and shall be the actual value of such housing but in no event shall such value be considered to be in excess of the sum of $25.00 per month." Any household which includes a member who has reached his eighteenth birthday and who is claimed as a dependent child for Federal income tax purposes by a taxpayer who is not a member of an eligible household, shall be ineligible to participate in any food stamp program established pursuant to this Act during the tax period such dependency is claimed and for a period of one year after expiration of such tax period. The Secretary may also establish temporary emergency standards of eligibility for the duration of the emergency without regard to income and other financial resources, for households that are victims of a mechanical disaster which disrupts the distribution of coupons, and for households that are the victims of a disaster which disrupted commercial channels of food distribution when he determines that such households are in need of temporary food assistance, and that commercial channels of food distribution have again become available to meet the temporary food needs of such

16 Section 5 was completely amended by Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2049, approved January 11, 1971. 17 The provisos in the second sentence of subsection (b) were added by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 247, approved August 10, 1973.

households: Provided, That the Secretary shall in the case of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, establish special standards of eligibility and coupon allotment schedules which reflect the average per capita income and cost of obtaining a nutritionally adequate diet in Puerto Rico and the respective territories; except that in no event shall the standards of eligibility or coupon allotment schedules so used exceed those in the fifty States.18

(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Secretary shall include in the uniform national standards of eligibility to be prescribed under subsection (b) of this section a provision that each State agency shall provide that a household shall not be eligible for assistance under this Act if it includes an able-bodied adult person between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five (except mothers or other members of the household who have the responsibility of care of dependent children or of incapacitated adults, bona fide students in any accredited school or training program, or persons employed and working at least 30 hours per week) who either (a) fails to register for employment at a State or Federal employment office or, when impractical, at such other appropriate State or Federal office designated by the Secretary, or (b) has refused to accept employment or public work at not less than (i) the applicable State minimum wage, (ii) the applicable Federal minimum wage, (iii) the applicable wages established by a valid regulation of the Federal Government authorized by existing law to establish such regulations, or (iv) $1.30 per hour if there is no applicable wage as described in (i), (ii), or (iii) above. Refusal to work at a plant or site subject to a strike or a lockout for the duration of such strike or lockout shall not be deemed to be a refusal to accept employment. For the purposes of this section, the term "able-bodied adult person" shall not include any narcotics addict or alcoholic who regularly participates, as a resident or nonresident, in any drug addiction or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program.19 (7 U.S.C. 2014.)

(d) The Secretary shall establish uniform national standards of eligibility for households described in section 3(e)(3) of this Act.20

ISSUANCE AND USE OF COUPONS

SEC. 6. (a) Coupons shall be printed in such denominations as may be determined to be necessary, and shall be issued only to households which have been duly certified as eligible to participate in the food stamp program.

(b) Coupons issued to eligible households shall be used by them only to purchase food in retail food stores which have been approved for participation in the food stamp program at prices prevailing in such stores: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the Secretary to specify the prices at which food may be sold by wholesale food concerns or retail food stores.

(c) Coupons issued to eligible households shall be simple in design and shall include only such words or illustrations as are required to explain their purpose and define their denomination. The name of any public official shall not appear on such coupons. (7 U.S.C. 2015.)

The last sentence of subsection (b) was amended by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 247, to provide for temporary standards of eligibility for victims of mechanical disasters.

The last sentence of subsection (c) was added by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 247, approved August 10, 1973. *A new subsection (d) was added by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 246, approved August 10, 1978.

VALUE OF THE COUPON ALLOTMENT AND CHARGES TO BE MADE

SEC. 7. (a) The face value of the coupon allotment which State agencies shall be authorized to issue to any households certified as eligible to participate in the food stamp program shall be in such amount as the Secretary determines to be the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet, adjusted semi-annually by the nearest dollar increment that is a multiple of two to reflect changes in the prices of food published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Department of Labor to be implemented commencing with the allotments of January 1, 1974, incorporating the changes in the prices of food through August 31, 1973, but in no event shall such adjustments be made for households of a given size unless the increase in the face value of the coupon allotment for such households, as calculated above, is a minimum of $2.00.21

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, households shall be charged for the coupon allotment issued to them, and the amount of such charge shall represent a reasonable investment on the part of the household, but in no event more than 30 per centum of the household's income: Provided, That coupon allotments may be issued without charge to households with income of less than $30 per month for a family of four under standards of eligibility prescribed by the Secretary: Provided further, That the Secretary shall provide a reasonable opportunity for any eligible household to elect to be issued a coupon allotment having a face value which is less than the face value of the coupon allotment authorized to be issued to them under subsection (a) of this section. The charge to be paid by eligible households electing to exercise the option set forth in this subsection shall be an amount which bears the same ratio to the amount which would have been charged under subsection (b) of this section as the face value of the coupon allotment actually issued to them bears to the face value of the coupon allotment that would have been issued to them under subsection (a) of this section.22

(c) The value of the coupon allotment provided to any eligible household which is in excess of the amount charged such households for such allotment shall not be considered to be income or resources for any purpose under any Federal or State laws including, but not limited to, laws relating to taxation, welfare, and public assistance programs.

(d) Funds derived from the charges made for the coupon allotment shall be promptly deposited in a manner prescribed in the regulations issued pursuant to this Act, in a separate account maintained in the Treasury of the United States for such purpose. Such deposits shall be available, without limitation to fiscal years, for the redemption of coupons. (7 U.S.C. 2016).

APPROVAL OF RETAIL FOOD STORES AND WHOLESALE FOOD CONCERNS

SEC. 8. (a) Regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall provide for the submission of applications for approval by retail food stores and wholesale food concerns which desire to be authorized to accept

21 Subsection (a) was substantially amended by Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2050, approved January 11, 1971, and was further amended to provide for the semiannual adjustment of coupon allotments by Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 248, approved August 10, 1973. The phrase "households of a given size unless the increase in the face" inadvertently omitted from Pub. L. 93-86, 87 Stat. 248, was inserted by Pub. L. 93-125, 87 Stat. 450, approved October 11, 1973.

22 Subsection (b) was amended by Pub. L. 91-671, 84 Stat. 2050, approved January 11, 1971.

and redeem coupons under the food stamp program and for the approval of those applicants whose participation will effectuate the purposes of the food stamp program. In determining the qualifications of applicants there shall be considered among such other factors as may be appropriate, the following: (1) the nature and extent of the retail or wholesale food business conducted by the applicant; (2) the volume of coupon business which may reasonably be expected to be conducted by the applicant retail food store or wholesale food concern; and (3) the business integrity and reputation of the applicant. Approval of an applicant shall be evidenced by the issuance to such applicant of a nontransferable certificate of approval.

(b) Regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall require an applicant retail food store or wholesale food concern to submit information which will permit a determination to be made as to whether such applicant qualifies, or continues to qualify, for approval under the provisions of this Act or the regulations issued pursuant to this Act. Regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall provide for safeguards which restrict the use or disclosure of information obtained under the authority granted by this subsection to purposes directly connected with administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Act or the regulations issued pursuant to this Act.

(c) Any retail food store or wholesale food concern which has failed upon application to receive approval to participate in the food stamp program may obtain a hearing on such refusal as provided in section 13 of this Act. (7 U.S.C. 2017.)

REDEMPTION OF COUPONS

SEC. 9. Regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall provide for the redemption of coupons accepted by retail food stores through approved wholesale food concerns or through banks, with the cooperation of the Treasury Department. (7 U.S.C. 2018.)

ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 10(a) All practicable efforts shall be made in the administration of the food stamp program to insure that participants use their increased food purchasing power to obtain those staple foods most needed in their diets, and particularly to encourage the continued use of those in abundant or surplus supply so as not to reduce the total consumption of surplus commodities which have been made available through direct distribution. In addition to such steps as may be taken administratively, the voluntary cooperation of existing Federal, State, local, or private agencies which carry out informational and educational programs for consumers shall be enlisted.

(b) The State agency of each participating State shall assume responsibility for the certification of applicant households and for the issuance of coupons: Provided, That the State agency may, subject to State law, delegate its responsibility in connection with the issuance of coupons to another agency of the State government. There shall be kept such records as may be necessary to ascertain whether the program is being conducted in compliance with the provisions of this Act and the regulations issued pursuant to this Act. Such records shall be available for inspection and audit at any reasonable time and

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