Public Comment Period Open: SNAP Trafficking and Disqualifiation Proposed Regulation

FNS has published proposed regulations, and is soliciting public comments.  Although much of the proposed regulations cover defining retailer trafficking, large portions of it apply to collusive practices between retailers and recipients and other “program abuses by client.” The proposed regulations also address mandatory 2008 Farm Bill provisions requiring reciprocal disqualification in SNAP when an individual is disqualified from the FDPIR (Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations).  There is even a discussion of purchasing drinks with bottle deposits and keeping the cash for the bottle return. “Nonetheless, clients who intentionally purchased products in containers for purposes of disposing of the products and exchanging the containers for cash are, in effect, trafficking without a complicit retailer.” Comments due on or before August 19, 2011.