State and local social services agencies that administer the federal Food Stamp Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program must adopt safeguards to limit the use or disclosure of information obtained from households that apply for or receive Food Stamp SNAP benefits.
Information obtained from applicants and recipients may be used or disclosed only:
for purposes directly connected with the administration and enforcement of the Food Stamp SNAP program;
for purposes directly connected with the administration of other federal assistance programs, federally-assisted means-tested state programs, or other specified government programs (including the child support enforcement program); or
as otherwise permitted by federal law or regulation.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the address, Social Security number, and photograph of any member of a household must be made available, on request, to any federal, state, or local law enforcement officer if the household member (a) has been charged with or convicted of a felony and is a fugitive or escapee or has violated probation or parole, or (b) has information about a household member who has been charged with or convicted of a felony and is a fugitive or escapee or has violated probation or parole.
A state or local social services agency also must disclose information to the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding household members who have been determined ineligible for Food Stamp SNAP benefits because they are in the United States in violation of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Act.
Upon written request of a responsible household member, a social services department must allow the household member, the household’s authorized representative, or a person acting on the household’s behalf to review information in a household’s Food Stamp SNAP record. The agency, however, is not required to disclose confidential information such as the names of individuals who have disclosed information about the household without the household’s knowledge or information concerning the nature or status of pending criminal prosecutions.