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    "ocrText": "PPI Intern1 feb29fsregs_access.wpo\nPage 4\nThat is not the purpose for which Federal Register publications are designed. States rely upon\nUSDA's current, published regulations. It is unrealistic for USDA to suggest that policies\nremoved from its regulations will remain in force. Even if it confirms this intention in unpublished\npolicy guidance, for state agencies' staff to refer to such guidance on an on-going basis is SO\nburdensome as to be impracticable. In other contexts, limiting the published regulations to the\nmost important policies and sending targeted policy memos to those individuals affected by more\ndetailed policies may make sense. But given the sheer volume of people and agencies involved in\nimplementing the Food Stamp Program, such a policy is likely to be counter-productive here. It\ncertainly will reduce the Program's transparency and is likely to increase the number of errors\neligibility workers commit.\nPrior to 1978, a much smaller fraction of USDA's food stamp policies were expressed in\nregulations. The comprehensive regulations issued that year reflected a consensus that USDA's\nunpublished policies were not being implemented in many areas and that the lack of clear, explicit\nregulations was not serving the needs of either states or beneficiaries. These regulations also\nhonored the requirements of sections 5(b) and 4(c) of the Food Stamp Act 7 U.S.C. §§ 2014(b)\nand 2013(c)) that USDA \"shall establish uniform national standards of eligibility\" and that such\nstandards be promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. These explicit,\npublished standards also helped ensure compliance with the statutory prohibitions on states\nimposing additional conditions on the participation of eligible families. Food Stamp Act §§ 5(b)\nand 11(e)(5); 7 U.S.C. §§ 2020(e)(5).\nThese proposed rules represent a substantial move back toward the level of generality and\nvagueness that characterized the pre-1978 regulations. Yet if that system worked badly before\n1978, it would almost certainly work even less well now. USDA currently has only a small\nfraction of the number of staff members involved in making, interpreting, and enforcing policy\nnow that it did prior to 1978. Also, prior to 1978 USDA had an outstanding and comprehensive\ncertification manual that brought together the most important unpublished policies; nothing of the\nkind exists today or is contemplated. The range of policy questions that arose then was narrower\nthan those that exist today since fewer food stamp recipients worked, the Food Stamp Program\nwas interacting with one AFDC program instead of 53 jurisdictions' TANF-funded programs, and\nfood stamp quality control was far from the pervasive influence on the Program that it is now. As\na result, the impact of what USDA is proposing would go far beyond the numerous explicit policy\nchanges it proposes.\nTo be sure, some material in the current regulations is truly unnecessary. For example,\ncurrent 7 C.F.R. § 273.2(i)(3)(ii), stating that the general expedited issuance procedures also\napply to residents of substance abuse treatment centers and group homes, serves no obvious\npurpose since nothing would suggest otherwise. But in general, the approach USDA is proposing\nserves neither states (who may remain subject to reviews for violating policies that will no longer\nbe in the regulations), eligible low-income households (whose treatment will depend on whether\ntheir eligibility worker happens to remember the former regulations and to understand that USDA\nintends that they still be current policy), or members of the general public interested in the\nProgram, who will no longer have a comprehensive published guide to the Program's policies."
}