ANNOUNCEMENT: The vendor through which the State of Arizona utilizes to print and mail correspondence is experiencing a nationwide system outage. Until this issue is resolved, most notices, forms and paper checks from DES will be impacted. We continue to work closely with our vendor throughout the process to ensure minimal disruption to our clients and partners. We are also connecting with other vendors who are able to provide services during the outage. The services DES provides are not impacted by this incident and remain accessible to the public. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Request for Informal Stakeholder Input on the Draft Rules for the Food Stamps Program
The Department of Economic Security (Department) is in the process of revising 6 A.A.C. 14, the administrative rules that govern the Food Stamps Program. During this process we welcome input from the public. To that end, we are requesting written comments on the current draft of these rules.
Our primary goal in revising these rules is to add rules to better inform the public about how Arizona has implemented the federal nutrition assistance program, including updating the name of the program to the Nutrition Assistance Program. These rules will amend the existing rules to make them clearer by better explaining current Department practices and to align the Nutrition Assistance Program with the Cash Assistance Program to create a smoother and more consistent user experience.
The Department is seeking informal stakeholder input as we draft the Food Stamps Program rules to ensure that we adequately consider stakeholders’ comments and concerns early in the rule writing process. Although there will be an opportunity for formal public comment after the rules are published in the Arizona Administrative Register pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1023, the Department will not be able to make any substantial changes to the draft rules at that time without adding several additional steps and requirements in the rulemaking process. Comments will be addressed through the revision of the draft rules and not as individual responses to each comment.
In line with formatting required by the Arizona Administrative Code, in these draft rules underlined language represents proposed language to be added to the existing rules and language that is struck through represents proposed language to be removed from the existing rules.
The Department will accept written comments on the draft Food Stamps Rules until August 7, 2022. Comments may be submitted by filling out the Comment Form on the DES Website. In addition, written comments may be submitted via mail or email at:
Arizona Department of Economic Security
ATTN: Erin Correll
P.O. Box 6123, Mail Drop 111G
Phoenix, AZ 85007
E-mail: [email protected]
Written comments are due by 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on August 7, 2022. Written comments sent via the United States Postal Service must be postmarked by August 7, 2022, to ensure consideration. All written comments should include the name and e-mail address of the person providing comments, as well as the name of any organization that person represents.
Thank you for your participation in helping the Department in our effort to continuously improve.
This document is available in an alternative format by contacting rules analyst at the email or address specified above.
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