| Upcoming Events
National eWIC Symposium
June 2 & 3
Marriot Suites - Market Ctr
Dallas, TX
TRA 50th Annual Meeting
Anniversary Celebration
September 16 & 17
Westin Riverwalk
San Antonio, TX |
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SNAP EBT AIX Transition Update
The EBT AIX Transformation Project is a hardware and operating system upgrade that will give HHSC's platform higher capabilities for transaction processing. Currently, the system's capacity is stretched when there are significant increases in transaction processing, such as during a disaster. HHSC received approval from FNS to move forward with the project on April 30, 2009. Originally, HHSC had planned to move into the new data center in April 2009, but the cutover date was moved out by about a month to May 21st, 2010 to address issues that were found in testing the new application. HHSC has been working with the third-party processors since September 2009 to set up new telecommunication networks to verify that they can process EBT transactions in the new environment. HHSC has successfully completed transaction processing (certification) testing for all current TPPs and tested Interoperable transactions with other States.
Note: Subsequent to the Retailer Stakeholder Meeting (5/18) , a decision was made by HHSC and the Food and Nutrition Service to delay the cutover to the new EBT system until the weekend of June 18th. If you would like to participate in those quarterly conference calls, please send an email to jwilliams@txretailers.org with your name, company, and e-mail address and we will get you added.
Current available program statistics for SNAP in TX are:
|
Date |
Total Active Cases |
Number of Purchases |
Total Purchase Value |
Average Transactions per Case |
Average Value
per Transaction | |
Feb 2010 |
1,455,718 |
12,736,358 |
426,941,909 |
8.749 |
33.52 | |
Mar 2010 |
1,502,975 |
15,198,187 |
481,131,652 |
10.11 |
31.66 | |
Apr 2010 |
1,523,353 |
14,903,858 |
466,421,223 |
9.78 |
31.30 |
SNAP & TANF Caseload Data
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Date |
Number of SNAP & TANF Cases |
Percent Increase in Caseload from Year to Year | |
March 2008 |
1,033,575 |
| |
March 2009 |
1,238,256 |
20% increase from '08 to '09 | |
March 2010 |
1,238,256 |
19% increase from '09 to '10 | |
TOTAL |
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42% increase from '08 to '10 |
SNAP & TANF Settlement Data
| Date |
SNAP & TANF Settlement Funds | |
March 2008 |
$256,249,615 |
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March 2009 |
$344,856,808 |
35% increase from '08 to '09 | |
March 2010 |
$480,650,707 |
39% increase from '09 to'10 | |
TOTAL |
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88% increase from '08 to '10 |
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911 Prepaid Rules - Cell and Phone Cards
Comptroller's Office has mailed a survey/questionnaire asking if you sell phone cards or prepaid cell phones. Because of questions arising from those mail-outs, TRA spoke to Bryant Lomax, Director of Tax Policy at the Comptroller's Office. Mr. Lomax indicated that a draft rule has been posted, but has not been finally adopted, and there may be a few minor changes from this version to the final draft. The final rule will be published in the near future (three-four weeks), and the Comptroller plans to include a "Frequently Asked Questions" section in the Comptroller's Newsletter to provide guidance to retailers in implementing this rule.
If you have questions you would like to have addressed by the Comptroller, please submit them to me ASAP and I will forward them to Bryant. Ronnie Volkening - Texas Retailers Association - rvolkening@txretailers.org. |
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Vermont Passes Interchange Fee Legislation
A new law in Vermont now allows merchants to set a minimum amount for credit card purchases, and prohibits credit card companies from fining businesses that offer discounts to customers who use credit cards with lower interchange swipe fees for the merchant. Vermont Governor Jim Douglas allowed the bill to become law without signing it today. The law goes into effect in January 2011. To release the full release, please click below. http://www.fmi.org/news_releases/index.cfm?fuseaction=mediatext&id=1130 |
Redeption Rates for New Food Products
Several WIC Vendors are tracking redemption rates of the new food package items added back on October 1, 2009. Redemption for these items hasn't been as high as some of the items considered core package items. We enclosed a few of them to give you some idea of progress.
Feb Mar Apr Average
BREAD/TORTILLAS/RICE/OATMEAL 59.42% 63.60% 62.51% 59.41%
BABY FOOD FRUIT OR VEG 4 OZ 58.77% 62.71% 61.41% 58.87%
BABY FOOD MEAT 2.5 OZ 51.07% 52.52% 49.83% 54.67%
FRUITS &/OR VEGETABLES 73.51% 77.65% 76.82% 73.77%
Compared to some of the staple items and their redemption rate.
Feb Mar Apr Average
MILK SKIM 1/2% 1% 2% 78.53% 81.54% 79.78% 80.43%
WHOLE MILK ONLY 84.51% 86.75% 85.60% 86.55%
MILK SKIM 1/2% 1% 2% QT 44.95% 51.50% 50.20% 44.18%
WHOLE MILK ONLY QT 52.11% 58.12% 56.92% 51.77%
CHEESE 81.54% 83.46% 82.07% 83.01%
EGGS-A OR AA LARGE/MED/SMALL 85.05% 87.07% 85.96% 87.23%
Split Tender Task Force Update
Industry has asked the Offline WIC State Agencies to put together an Operations and a Technical Group to work toward developing a process that would allow Split Tender transactions in lane. Split Tender occurs when a WIC recipient makes a purchase of products on her CVV (fruits & vegetables) side of her WIC benefits. If this purchase amount exceeds the total value available on the card, Split Tender would allow you to take the amount available on the WIC Card toward the purchase and then apply the balance to another tender, such as Lone Star Card (SNAP), cash, check, credit or debit cards to reach a zero balance with the customer.
- The Technical Group believes it would take a technical change to support reversals, the change request could take anywhere from 6 months to 1 year.
- The key question for the technical group is "How often do WIC clients going through the lane decrement their card, and then decide they need to reverse the transaction for a variety of reasons (not enough money to pay the difference, want a different brand of peanut butter, cannot physically carry all the items they purchased, etc.)?" The response from the Operational group was that this is an infrequent occurrence and they didn't recommend allowing the reversal for these reasons.
- The question was also posed to the group whether a reversal should be immediate or could it be done in an hour or even the next day. Different scenarios were discussed that could cause problems for the stores such as a client wanting to return a gallon of milk that was nearing the expiration date to get a fresh one before the end of the month. A reversal should not be performed. Recommendation was the reversal must happen within the same transaction.
Summary:
1. Technically program the code for reversals in any category.
2. Policy to only allow for reversal when the participant funds are
insufficient to pay the balance of a price type 3 (category 19;
fruit and vegetable) item with other tender
3. Reversals occur within transaction only.
We are continuing to meet and will keep you abreast of developments. The groups are in agreement to work toward allowing Split Tender.
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Estate Tax
Key Senators Baucus (D-MT), Grassley (R-IA), Kyl (R-AZ) and Lincoln (D-AR) involved in the debate over Estate Tax provisions continue to negotiate a permanent "fix" for the Estate Tax which is scheduled to revert to pre-Bush rates and exclusions in 2011. Any reduction in rates or increase in exclusion from 2011 amounts will have to be offset with spending cuts or increased revenue. This "pay-for" is a large obstacle to reform. It is believed that at least 25 Democratic votes will be needed to pass a bill. Senate consideration is unlikely until later in the summer.
Organized Retail Crime
Several key House members are working to meld three different House ORC bills in a single vehicle. If agreement can be reached, a June Markup in the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is possible. We will continue to monitor for any new developments.
HIRE Act The IRS has released information and forms in response to the recently enacted Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act - P.L. 111-147), and explains the new tax benefits available to employers. The HIRE Act provides employers with a payroll tax break for hiring new employees that had been previously unemployed for at least 60 days and begin employment during the period between February 3, 2010 and January 1, 2011. Qualified employees must sign Form W-11 to confirm their eligibility for the new payroll tax exemption. Businesses that retain each new employee for a period of at least 52 consecutive weeks will qualify for a general business tax credit of 6.2 percent of wages paid to each qualified employee during the 52 week period. This new hire retention credit can provide a maximum credit of up to $1,000 for each eligible new employee. Information provided by IRS and Form W-11 are available at the following link: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=220745,00.html
Gift Cards
The Federal Reserve Board has issued final rules on gift cards that will go into effect August 22, 2010. The rules cover both open-loop and closed-loop gift cards and prohibit dormancy, inactivity and service fees unless the card has been unused for at least one year. The rules also mandate that cards cannot expire within five years from the last date of use, and the terms of expiration must be clear and conspicuous. More information and a copy of the final rule is available
at:
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