News From Washington

Last week, the Administration published HHS and USDA notices reinterpreting the meaning of “federal public benefits” and narrowing the eligibility of these programs to qualified immigrants. The HHS notice added an additional 13 programs as federal public benefits with eligibility restrictions to qualified immigrants. This includes Title X, Title IV-E Prevention Services, and Substance Use Prevention and Recovery Support Services Block Grant, among others. The HHS notice does not make changes to existing PRWORA federal verification requirements, though the notice indicates states are permitted to implement verification processes.

The notice from USDA confirms that states can choose to provide or deny eligibility for individuals and family units who are not “qualified” for specific programs. While this is not a new option, USDA has not highlighted it in the past. WIC is listed as a program that is subject to this state option. For more information, please see these explainers from the National Immigration Law Center on the HHS Notice and USDA Notice. These notices went into effect upon publishing on the federal register on July 14 and are currently open for public comment. For questions about these changes, please reach out to NACCHO Government Affairs @ govtaffairs@naccho.org.