13 Five safety valve mechanisms under federal law give states tools to preserve food stamp benefits for many jobless persons willing to work. To date, the most significant relief afforded jobless food stamp recipients has been through jobless area waivers of the three-month cut off. States that had no current jobless area waivers, even though most, if not all, of these states would qualify for them, were California, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. States that operate under waivers differ in the extent to which they apply for such relief. The most extensive relief is provided when states utilize all three bases.
States have broad flexibility in structuring exemptions.
The 1997 Budget Act also authorized federal food stamp employment and training funds for states to provide work opportunities for able-bodied adults without dependents. The USDA has set a reimbursement rate limiting the amount of funds available per work slot but allows some states fuller reimbursements if they guarantee a work slot to every person who reaches the three month limit and would otherwise be cut off the program. While some states were apparently slow in moving to implement these options earlier, a majority of states now implement one or both options. This would allow a new three months of benefit eligibility for jobless people willing to work, regardless of when in the last 36 months those individuals had received benefits. Among states that have opted for such a system are Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington.