Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires DHS to conduct public outreach regarding noncitizen SNAP participation.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the participation of noncitizens in the New Jersey Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and supplementing Title 44 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Human Services, working in consultation and cooperation with relevant noncitizen advocacy organizations, shall engage in comprehensive outreach efforts and public awareness campaigns to ensure that all noncitizens are made aware of how participation in SNAP affects whether a noncitizen applying for admission or adjustment of status is inadmissible to the United States, pursuant to the federal “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” rule (84 FR 41292). At a minimum, the department shall provide outreach at social service agencies that serve noncitizens in the State and other organizations focused on food assistance, and may use all available media, including print, radio, televisions, and the Internet to provide information in multiple languages on how participation in SNAP specifically affects whether a noncitizen applying for admission or adjustment of status is inadmissible to the United States and which types of noncitizens are exempt from the rule.
b. As used in this section:
“Department” means the Department of Human Services.
2. The Commissioner of Health, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Human Services to engage in comprehensive outreach efforts to ensure that all noncitizens are made aware of how participation in the New Jersey Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) affects whether a noncitizen applying for admission or adjustment of status is inadmissible to the United States, pursuant to the federal “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” rule (84 FR 41292) also known as the “public charge rule.” The bill would require the department to work in consultation and cooperation with noncitizen advocacy organizations in performing this outreach.
The recent expansion to the federal “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” rule has casted uncertainty and confusion within the noncitizen community, as to whether participation in a noncash government benefits program such as SNAP affects whether a noncitizen applying for admission or adjustment of status is inadmissible to the United States. As a result, many noncitizen families are hesitant to apply to SNAP, even if those noncitizens are eligible for SNAP and exempt from the “public charge rule.” Non-citizens exempt from the “public charge rule” include refugees, asylees, Afghans and Iraqis with special immigrant visas, certain nonimmigrant trafficking and crime victims, individuals applying under the federal “Violence Against Women Act,” special immigrant juveniles, and those to whom the United States Department of Homeland Security has granted a waiver of public charge inadmissibility. In order to maximize participation in SNAP, this bill helps ensure that noncitizens are fully aware of how participation in the program may or may not affect inadmissibility into the United States, pursuant to 84 FR 41292.