The Food Stamp Program helps low-income households (individuals and families) obtain a more nutritious diet by supplementing their income with food stamp benefits. In fiscal year 1996, the average monthly food stamp benefit was $73 per person. These benefits are generally provided through coupons or electronically on a debit card (similar to a bank card) that may be used to purchase food at stores authorized to receive food stamps. The Food Stamp Program is a federal-state partnership, in which the federal government pays the full cost of the food stamp benefits and approximately half of the states’ administrative costs. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)—formerly, the Food and Consumer Service—administers the program at the federal level. The states’ responsibilities include certifying eligible households, calculating the amount of benefits, and issuing benefits to participants who meet the requirements set by law. The Welfare Reform Act overhauled the nation’s welfare system and significantly changed the Food Stamp Program. In addition, the Fiscal Year 1997 Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 105-18, June 12, 1997) included new authority allowing the states to purchase federal food stamps to provide state-funded food assistance for legal immigrants and able-bodied adults without dependents who are no longer eligible for federal food stamps under the Welfare Reform Act. Under the supplemental act, states are required to receive approval from FNS to distribute additional food stamps and to fully reimburse the federal government in advance for all costs associated with providing the benefits. In addition, the states’ food stamp programs must be cost-neutral to the federal government. Changes to the Food Stamp Program included imposing time limits on those able-bodied individuals between the ages of 18 and 50 without dependents who were not working at least 80 hours a month or participating in certain kinds of employment and training programs. This work requirement was effective not later than November 22, 1996. States were required to terminate food stamps for these nonworking able-bodied adults without dependents after 3 months within any 36-month period. Disabled individuals, if they meet eligibility requirements, can still receive assistance. The act allows FNS to grant waivers to states for exempting able-bodied adults without dependents from the work requirement if they live in an area where unemployment is over 10 percent or in an area with an insufficient number of jobs. FNS generally grants waivers for a 1-year period. Once approved, these waivers may be renewed if the areas covered continue to have high unemployment or insufficient jobs. Once the waivers are approved, the states or localities can choose to either implement them in whole or in part, or choose not to implement them at all. In addition, The Balanced Budget Act (P.L. 105-33, Aug. 5, 1997) gives states the discretion to exempt certain types of able-bodied adults without dependents from the work requirement—up to 15 percent of those not otherwise waived. The Balanced Budget Act also provided an additional $131 million for each of the next 4 years to the Food Stamp Program—80 percent of it is designated for employment and training opportunities for these adults. According to data from FNS for fiscal year 1995—the latest year for which data were available—in an average month, the Food Stamp Program provided benefits for 27 million people. Of these, 2.5 million were able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 50 without dependents. An estimated one-half of these adults, about 1.3 million, are subject to the 3-month time limit. In addition, the Welfare Reform Act and the Supplemental Appropriations Act allowed immigrants with legal status as of August 22, 1996, to retain food stamps up to August 22, 1997. However, if legal immigrants have 40 quarters or more of work history in the United States or are veterans or active duty members of the U.S. military, they may continue to retain food stamps. Spouses and minor children of veterans are also eligible. At the time of our survey of states in the summer of 1997, the states were pursuing a variety of options to address changes in the Food Stamp Program that affected able-bodied adults without dependents and legal immigrants. Some state actions, such as job training assistance, although primarily intended to move individuals toward self-sufficiency, may have the effect of allowing some able-bodied adults without dependents to retain food stamps by meeting the act’s work requirements. Twenty states provided legal immigrants with information on how to become citizens so that they can be eligible for food stamps. Other state actions are intended to replace the food stamp benefits that individuals have lost. According to our survey results, when the states notified able-bodied adults without dependents that they were subject to the work requirements in order to retain food stamps, many states told us that they chose to also notify these adults of job placement and/or training services that were available. Although these programs are intended primarily to move individuals toward self-sufficiency, participants may still receive food stamps if income and other requirements are met. For example, our survey indicated that Texas provided information on jobs and/or employment resources and training. Thirty-two states provided information about jobs and/or employment resources; 29 provided information on training; 19 provided information on workfare. In addition, 20 states helped assess an individual’s employment skills. The states also offered one or more ways to meet the work requirements: 25 states counted volunteer work, 25 counted workfare, and 33 counted employment training that leads to a job. In addition, as allowed under the Welfare Reform Act, our survey indicated that 43 states had applied for, and 42 received, authority to waive the work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents in areas where unemployment exceeded 10 percent or in areas with insufficient jobs. (See app. III for the waiver status of each state.) FNS estimated that as many as 35 percent of the affected able-bodied adults without dependents would retain their eligibility through a waiver. However, 8 of the 43 states were not planning to implement their waivers—either in their entirety or in part. In seven states—California, Indiana, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Virginia—waivers were approved for selected regions but the local governments, which are authorized to implement the waivers, did not plan to do so. Texas planned to implement its waiver only in localities with an unemployment rate of over 10 percent. Two of the eight states or their localities had not fully implemented the waivers because they believed that it was unfair to exempt able-bodied adults without dependents from the work requirement while single mothers receiving federal assistance, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), are required to participate in work activities. At the time of our survey, 20 states provided or planned to provide legal immigrants—who were scheduled to lose their food stamps—with information on how to become U.S. citizens. In May 1997, we reported that it took between 112 and 678 days (with an average of 373 days) to process applications for citizenship at INS between June of 1994 and June of 1996. For example, it took just over 1 year to process a request for citizenship in Los Angeles—a city with one of the largest immigrant populations in the nation—and almost 2 years to process an application in Houston. INS officials told us that among the reasons for the significant increase in the number of applications that INS has received since fiscal year 1989 is that there are incentives to becoming a citizen because of the benefits that can be derived. Because it takes an average of over 1 year to process applications for citizenship and legal immigrants were not eligible to receive food stamps after August 22, 1997, many legal immigrants have lost their federal food stamp benefits. FNS’ most current estimate is that 935,000 legal immigrants lost their federal food stamps under the welfare reform provisions. However, as of December 1997, estimates are that over one-quarter, or about 241,000, of these individuals are receiving food stamps funded by the states. For those individuals who lose federal food stamp benefits, 20 states were taking one or more actions to provide state-funded food assistance. (App. IV identifies the 20 states with food assistance programs that serve able-bodied adults without dependents and/or legal immigrants.) Ten states decided to purchase federal food stamps with their own funds for certain legal immigrants—primarily children and the elderly. According to FNS and the states, 9 of the 10 states have estimated that about 241,000 legal immigrants are now receiving state-funded food stamps. Among these states are California, Florida, New York, and Texas, which, according to an FNS report, had about 70 percent of the legal immigrants receiving food stamps in fiscal year 1995—the latest year for which data were available. These states will generally use the Food Stamp Program’s infrastructure and benefit structure to deliver food assistance, according to FNS. For example, Washington State appropriated just over $60 million for fiscal years 1998-99 to fully restore benefits to an estimated 38,000 legal immigrants—all of whom were slated to become ineligible for federal food stamps. Households eligible for participation receive the same benefits that they did under the federal program. However, FNS also told us that, unlike Washington State’s, most states’ eligibility standards are likely to apply to only certain categories of legal immigrants. California, for example, recently appropriated $34.6 million to provide food stamps for legal immigrants who are children or elderly. Thirteen of the 20 states reported that they were using their own state-funded food assistance programs, and 2 of the 13 states created programs in response to welfare reform. These two states—Colorado and Minnesota—developed state-funded food assistance programs to aid those legal immigrants losing their federal food stamp eligibility as a result of welfare reform.