ATLANTA — The deadline set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Georgia to fix problems with its management of a federal food stamp program has passed.
In late November, the USDA, which oversees each state’s management of funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), wrote to Georgia Department of Human Services Commissioner Candice Broce about how the state was managing food stamp benefits for state residents in need.
The letter said Georgia was “severely out of compliance with federal requirements,” and gave the state up 30 days to create and implement what’s known as a corrective action plan and submit it to federal officials for review and approval. The deadline was Thursday.
According to the letter to Broce, Georgia’s management of SNAP benefits for residents who qualify “been concerning for some time,” citing the Application Processing Timeliness score in the state.
The APT refers to a seven to 30 day window for SNAP applications to be processed by state agencies. An acceptable APT, according to USDA, is 95 or higher.
The 2008 Food and Nutrition Act, which set the new APT rates, requires state programs to meet certain thresholds to ensure residents in need receive benefits in a timely fashion.
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Earlier this year, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service revised the process for escalating and identifying noncompliance to improve outcomes by state agencies.
“FNS recently revised the escalation process to identify noncompliance with the statutory requirements and to promote significant improvements in State agencies with APT rates falling below 90 percent of the upper bound of the confidence interval,” USDA said.
From Oct. 2022 to March 2023, Georgia’s APT was 89.62, below the USDA’s “upper confidence interval” of 90.
From January to June of this year, the rate was lower, at 84.90, according to the letter sent to the DHS commissioner. Federal officials said this is what put Georgia severely out of compliance with federal requirements.
“This has resulted in a hardship to needy households across Georgia who are not consistently receiving access to SNAP benefits within 7 or 30 -days, as required by the Act.
As a result, Georgia was given 30 days to correct their compliance issues, beginning upon receipt of the letter on Nov. 21, 2023.
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Those 30 days ended on Thursday, Dec. 21.
In response to questions by Channel 2 Action News, the Georgia Department of Human Services said they are working to finalize a plan to submit to FNS in the coming days.
“We are working closely with our federal partners to resolve the backlog of SNAP cases. We are also working to improve output to ensure we are able to address changes in volume so the backlog doesn’t reoccur once resolved. While these efforts are ongoing, it must also be acknowledged that recruitment, retention, and pay remain serious challenges for every state, including Georgia,” a DHS spokeswoman said in a statement.
Speaking with Channel 2 Action News, the USDA said they recognized states have seen “unprecedented challenges” over the past few years, particularly referencing the COVID pandemic and the time after. Still, they said the backlogs in SNAP benefit processing in Georgia were not admissible.
“Providing timely, accurate SNAP benefits to eligible families in need is a state’s fundamental and legal responsibility. Long backlogs in processing SNAP applications are wholly unacceptable, and families should not go hungry as a result. FNS will continue to work collaboratively with states to improve their processing timeliness and hold them accountable for fulfilling this obligation,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement.
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