ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2362

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  FEBRUARY 14, 2022

      The Assembly Agriculture and Food Security Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 2362.

      This bill, as amended, requires the Commissioner of Human Services to apply for a federal waiver of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit time limit for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD), either for the entire State or for any geographic areas in the State that meet federal waiver criteria.  Under current law, ABAWDs are eligible for SNAP benefits for three months over a three-year period, unless the individual works a minimum of 20 hours per week, participates in a work program for 20 hours per week, participates in a workfare program, is pregnant, has a physical or mental disability that prohibits work, has an individual under the age of 18 in the same household, or is exempt from the general work requirements for SNAP.

      Pursuant to the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act Pub.L.116-127, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) partially suspended the ABAWD benefit time limit, except for an individual who fails to comply with either a work program or workfare program offered by the state in compliance with federal law.  This partial suspension of the ABAWD time limit is in effect for the period beginning April 1, 2020 through the end of the month following the month in which the federal COVID Public Health Emergency (PHE) expires.  Accordingly, the bill directs the commissioner to submit the waiver application upon the expiration of the PHE, or upon the effective date of the bill, if the PHE has already expired.

      This bill, as amended, also clarifies current law by requiring the commissioner to review State labor and employment data annually, and subsequently submit a request for a waiver of the ABAWD benefit time limit, when in compliance with federal guidance, either for the entire State or for any geographic areas in the State that meet federal waiver criteria.  Existing statute simply directs the commissioner to review State labor and employment data, provided by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, and determine whether to submit a waiver request. 

      Federal criteria for these waivers, established pursuant to 7 U.S.C. s.2015(o)(4) and 7 C.F.R. 273.24(f), specify that the USDA may waive the ABAWD benefit time limit either statewide or in areas of a state that: (1) have an unemployment rate of over 10 percent or (2) do not have a “sufficient number of jobs to provide employment” to the ABAWD population living therein.  Federal regulation also specifies the types and sources of employment data that a state may submit in support of a waiver application.  The USDA typically approves a state’s waiver application for a period of twelve months. 

      According to the USDA, in January 2020, prior to the partial suspension of the ABAWD benefit time limit in response to the COVID public health crisis, two states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands operated under statewide ABAWD time limit waivers, while an additional 15 states had ABAWD waivers approved for certain geographic areas within state boundaries.  New Jersey was one of 34 states and territories without a waiver for the ABAWD time limit on SNAP benefits prior to the COVID outbreak.    

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amendments make technical and clarifying corrections to the bill.