Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 91.djvu/996

 91 STAT. 962

PUBLIC LAW 95-113—SEPT. 29, 1977 "ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS

7 USC 2014.

Standards.

State plans.

Income standards, guidelines.

"SEC. 5. (a) Participation in the food stamp program shall be limited to those households whose incomes and other financial resources, held singly or in joint ownership, are determined to be a substantial limiting factor in permitting them to obtain a more nutritious diet. Assistance under this program shall be furnished to all eligible households who make application for such participation. "(b) The Secretary shall establish uniform national standards of eligibility (other than the income standards for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States established in accordance with subsections (c) and (e) of this section) for participation by households in the food stamp program in accordance with the provisions of this section. No plan of operation submitted by a State agency shall be approved unless the standards of eligibility meet those established by the Secretary, and no State agency shall impose any other standards of eligibility as a condition for participating in the program. "(c) The income standards of eligibility shall be the nonfarm income poverty guidelines prescribed by the Office of Management and Budget adjusted annually pursuant to section 625 of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2971d), for the forty-eight States and the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and Guam, respectively: Provided, That in no event shall the standards of eligibility for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, or Guam exceed those in the fortyeight contiguous States: Provided further, That the income poverty guidelines for the period commencing July 1, 1978, shall be made as up to date as possible by multiplying the income poverty guidelines for 1977 by the change between the average 1977 Consumer Price Index and the Consumer Price Index for March 1978, utilizing the most current procedures which have been used by the Office of Management and Budget, and the income poverty guidelines for future periods shall be similarly adjusted. "(d) Household income for purposes of the food stamp program shall include all income from whatever source excluding only (1) any gain or benefit which is not in the form of money payable directly to a household, (2) any income in the certification period which is received too infrequently or iregularly to be reasonably anticipated, but not in excess of $30 in a quarter, (3) all educational loans on which payment is deferred, grants, scholarships, fellowships, veterans' educational benefits, and the like to the extent that they are used for tuition and mandatory school fees at an institution of higher education or school for the handicapped, (4) all loans other than educational loans on which repayment is deferred, (5) reimbursements which do not exceed expenses actually incurred and which do not represent a gain or benefit to the household, (6) moneys received and used for the care and maintenance of a third-party beneficiary who is not a household member, (7) income earned by a child who is a member of the household, who is a student, and who has not attained his eighteenth birthday, (8) moneys received in the form of nonrecurring lump-sum payments, including, but not limited to, income tax refunds, rebates, or credits, retroactive lump-sum social security or railroad retirement pension payments and retroactive lump-sum insurance settlements: Provided, That such payments shall be counted as resources, unless specifically excluded by other laws, (9) the cost of producing self-employed income, and (10) any income that any other law specifically excludes from consideration as income for the purpose of determining eligibility for the food stamp program.

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