SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1188 To help individuals receiving assistance under the supplemental nutrition assistance program in obtaining self-sufficiency, to provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, and for other pur- poses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 18, 2023 Mr. LEE (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To help individuals receiving assistance under the supple- mental nutrition assistance program in obtaining self- sufficiency, to provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SNAP Reform and 4 Upward Mobility Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1188 IS Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. TITLE I—POVERTY MEASUREMENT IMPROVEMENT Sec. 101. Improving the measurement of poverty in the United States. Sec. 102. Commission on valuation of government benefits. Sec. 103. GAO reports on effect of supplementary data on calculation of pov- erty rates and related measures. Sec. 104. Rule of construction. TITLE II—MODIFICATIONS TO SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Sec. 201. Work requirements. Sec. 202. Employment and training program outcomes reporting. Sec. 203. State matching funds. Sec. 204. Eligibility. Sec. 205. Compliance with fraud investigations. Sec. 206. Authorized users of electronic benefit transfer cards. Sec. 207. Reauthorization of medium- or high-risk retail food stores and whole- sale food concerns. Sec. 208. State activity reports. Sec. 209. Disqualification by State agency. Sec. 210. Retention of recaptured funds by States. TITLE I—POVERTY 1 MEASUREMENT IMPROVEMENT 2 SEC. 101. IMPROVING THE MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY IN 3 THE UNITED STATES. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) FEDERAL BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘Federal 6 benefit’’ means a benefit, refundable tax credit, or 7 other form of assistance provided under any of the 8 following programs: 9 (A) Earned Income Tax Credit (refundable 10 portion). 11 (B) Child Tax Credit (refundable portion). 12 (C) Supplemental Security Income. 13 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1188 IS (D) Temporary Assistance for Needy Fam- 1 ilies. 2 (E) Title IV–E Foster Care. 3 (F) Title IV–E Adoption Assistance. 4 (G) Medicaid. 5 (H) SCHIP. 6 (I) Indian Health Services. 7 (J) PPACA refundable premium assistance 8 and cost sharing tax credit. 9 (K) Assets for Independence program. 10 (L) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 11 Food Program. 12 (M) School Breakfast. 13 (N) School Lunch. 14 (O) Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 15 Food Program. 16 (P) Child and Adult Care Food Program. 17 (Q) The Food Distribution Program on In- 18 dian Reservations (FDPIR). 19 (R) Nutrition Program for the Elderly. 20 (S) Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition 21 Program. 22 (T) Commodity Supplemental Food Pro- 23 gram. 24 (U) Section 8 Housing. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1188 IS (V) Public Housing. 1 (W) Housing for Persons with Disabilities. 2 (X) Home Investment Partnership Pro- 3 gram. 4 (Y) Rural Housing Service. 5 (Z) Rural Housing Insurance Fund. 6 (AA) Low-Income Home Energy Assist- 7 ance Program. 8 (BB) Universal Service Fund Low Income 9 Support Mechanism (subsidized phone services). 10 (CC) Pell Grants. 11 (DD) Supplemental Educational Oppor- 12 tunity Grants. 13 (EE) American Opportunity Tax Credit 14 (refundable portion). 15 (FF) Healthy Start. 16 (GG) Job Corps. 17 (HH) Head Start (including Early Head 18 Start). 19 (II) Weatherization Assistance. 20 (JJ) Chafee Foster Care Independence 21 Program. 22 (KK) Child Care Subsidies from the Child 23 Care and Development Fund. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1188 IS (LL) Child Care from the Temporary As- 1 sistance for Needy Families Block Grant. 2 (MM) Emergency Assistance to Needy 3 Families with Children. 4 (NN) Senior Community Service Employ- 5 ment Program. 6 (OO) Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers 7 Training Program. 8 (PP) Indian and Native American Employ- 9 ment and Training Program. 10 (QQ) Independent Living Education and 11 Training Vouchers. 12 (2) RESOURCE UNIT.—The term ‘‘resource 13 unit’’ means all co-resident individuals who are re- 14 lated by birth, marriage, or adoption, plus any co- 15 resident unrelated children, foster children, and un- 16 married partners and their relatives. 17 (3) MARKET INCOME.—The term ‘‘market in- 18 come’’ means individual income from the following: 19 (A) Earnings. 20 (B) Interest. 21 (C) Dividends. 22 (D) Rents, royalties, and estates and 23 trusts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1188 IS (E) The monetary value of employer-spon- 1 sored health insurance benefits. 2 (F) Other forms of income, as determined 3 by the Director. 4 (4) ENTITLEMENT AND OTHER INCOME.—The 5 term ‘‘entitlement and other income’’ means income 6 from the following: 7 (A) Unemployment (insurance) compensa- 8 tion. 9 (B) Workers’ compensation. 10 (C) Social Security. 11 (D) Veterans’ payments and benefits. 12 (E) Survivor benefits. 13 (F) Disability benefits (not including bene- 14 fits under the Supplemental Security Income 15 program). 16 (G) Pension or retirement income. 17 (H) Alimony. 18 (I) Child support. 19 (J) Financial assistance from outside of 20 the household. 21 (K) Medicare. 22 (5) ENTITLEMENT AND EARNED UNIT IN- 23 COME.—The term ‘‘entitlement and earned unit in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1188 IS come’’ means the sum of all market income and en- 1 titlement and other income. 2 (6) INCOME TAX DATA.—The term ‘‘income tax 3 data’’ means return information, as such term is de- 4 fined under section 6103(b)(2) of the Internal Rev- 5 enue Code of 1986. 6 (7) ADMINISTERING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘ad- 7 ministering agency’’ means a State or Federal agen- 8 cy responsible for administering a Federal benefit. 9 (8) TOTAL RESOURCE UNIT INCOME.—The 10 term ‘‘total resource unit income’’ means, with re- 11 spect to a resource unit, an amount equal to— 12 (A) the sum of— 13 (i) all market income attributable to 14 members of the unit; 15 (ii) all entitlement and other income 16 attributable to members of the unit; and 17 (iii) an amount, or cash equivalent, of 18 all Federal benefits received by members of 19 the unit; minus 20 (B) all State and Federal income and pay- 21 roll taxes attributable to members of the unit. 22 (9) EARNED RESOURCE UNIT INCOME.—The 23 term ‘‘earned resource unit income’’ means, with re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1188 IS spect to a resource unit, all market income attrib- 1 utable to members of the unit. 2 (10) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA- 3 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa- 4 tion’’ means any information that identifies an indi- 5 vidual or could reasonably be used to identify an in- 6 dividual that is— 7 (A) collected pursuant to a survey con- 8 ducted by the Bureau of the Census; or 9 (B) disclosed to the Bureau of the Census 10 by an administering agency for the purpose of 11 carrying out subsection (b). 12 (11) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 13 the Director of the Bureau of the Census. 14 (b) VERIFICATION OF DATA COLLECTED IN THE AN- 15 NUAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SUPPLEMENT TO THE CUR- 16 RENT POPULATION SURVEY.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 18 2024, in order to more accurately determine the ex- 19 tent of poverty in the United States and the anti- 20 poverty effectiveness of Federal benefit programs, 21 the Director shall collect, in addition to the data col- 22 lected under the Annual Social and Economic Sup- 23 plement to the Current Population Survey, data 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1188 IS from the appropriate administering agencies related 1 to the following: 2 (A) Participation in any Federal benefit 3 program and the monetary or cash equivalent 4 value of such benefit for an individual, where 5 possible, and otherwise for resource units or 6 households. 7 (B) The total amount of market income 8 for individuals. 9 (C) The total amount of entitlement and 10 other income for individuals. 11 (D) Payment of income taxes and payroll 12 taxes for individuals. 13 (E) Total resource unit income. 14 (F) Total earned resource unit income. 15 (G) Any other information about benefits 16 or income received by individuals that the Di- 17 rector determines necessary to carry out this 18 section and that is not included in the data re- 19 lating to participation in Federal benefit pro- 20 grams or market income for individuals. 21 (2) ADMINISTERING AGENCY DATA.—Not later 22 than 6 months after receiving a request from the Di- 23 rector, the head of each administering agency shall 24 make available to the Director such data (including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1188 IS income tax data) as the Director shall require for 1 the purpose of carrying out this subsection and for 2 the purposes outlined in section 6 of title 13, United 3 States Code. 4 (3) PUBLICATION OF DATA.— 5 (A) RATES AND OTHER DATA.— 6 (i) REPORT.—The Director shall sub- 7 mit to Congress, not later than January 1, 8 2025, a report detailing the implementa- 9 tion of this section, including— 10 (I) the availability of related 11 data; 12 (II) the quality of the data; and 13 (III) the methodology proposed 14 for assigning dollar values to the re- 15 ceipt of noncash Federal benefits. 16 (ii) TABLES AND GRAPHS.—The Di- 17 rector shall produce tables and graphs 18 showing for each year the poverty rates 19 and related data calculated using data col- 20 lected under paragraph (1), including— 21 (I) the total resource unit income 22 for survey respondents; 23 (II) the total earned resource 24 unit income for survey respondents; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1188 IS (III) the total of all amounts de- 1 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through 2 (G) of paragraph (1) that are received 3 by survey respondents; 4 (IV) a breakdown of the amount 5 of income taxes and payroll taxes at- 6 tributable to survey respondents; and 7 (V) for 2027 and subsequent 8 years, poverty rates calculated using 9 updated poverty thresholds as de- 10 scribed in clause (iii). 11 (iii) UPDATED POVERTY THRESH- 12 OLDS.—For 2027 and subsequent years, 13 the Director shall, in addition to the offi- 14 cial poverty line (as defined by the Office 15 of Management and Budget) and the sup- 16 plemental poverty measure, provide an al- 17 ternative poverty measure that uses the 18 personal consumption expenditure price 19 index (as published by the Bureau of Eco- 20 nomic Analysis) and accounts for the data 21 collected under paragraph (1). The Direc- 22 tor shall provide a comparison of the offi- 23 cial poverty line (as defined by the Office 24 of Management and Budget), the supple- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1188 IS mental poverty measure rate as defined by 1 the Bureau of the Census, and the alter- 2 native poverty rate created using the alter- 3 native poverty measure under this section. 4 (iv) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The 5 Office of Management and Budget shall 6 not use the additional data collected by the 7 Director pursuant to paragraph (1) for 8 purposes of defining the official poverty 9 line. 10 (B) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Consistent with 11 the provisions of sections 8, 9, and 23(c) of title 12 13, United States Code, the Director shall en- 13 sure the confidentiality of information furnished 14 to the Director under this subsection. 15 (c) PROTECTION AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONALLY 16 IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The security, disclosure, and 18 confidentiality provisions set forth in sections 9 and 19 23 of title 13, United States Code, shall apply to 20 personally identifiable information obtained by the 21 Bureau of the Census pursuant to this section. 22 (2) RESTRICTED ACCESS TO PERSONALLY 23 IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.—Access to personally 24 identifiable information collected to supplement the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1188.IS S1188 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1188 IS restricted-use Current Population Survey Annual So- 1 cial and Economic Supplements in accordance with 2 subsection (b)(1) shall be available only to those who 3 have access to the Current Population Survey data 4 with the permission of the Bureau of the Census and 5 in accordance with any other applicable provision of 6 law. 7 (3) PENALTIES.—Any individual who knowingly 8 accesses or discloses personally identifiable informa- 9 tion in violation of this section shall be guilty of a 10 felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in 11 an amount of not more than $300,000 under title 12 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more 13 than five years, or both. 14 (d) STATE REPORTING OF FEDERAL DATA.—Begin- 15 ning with the first full calendar year that begins after the 16 date of enactment of this Act, with respect to any Federal 17 benefit that is administered at the State level by a State 18 administering agency, such State administering agency 19 shall submit each year to the Federal administeri [Text truncated for display. 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