Waiver

(A) In general On the request of a State agency and with the support of the chief executive officer of the State, the Secretary may waive the applicability of paragraph (2) to any group of individuals in the State if the Secretary makes a determination that the area in which the individuals reside— (i) has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent; or (ii) is in a noncontiguous State and has an unemployment rate that is at or above 1.5 times the national unemployment rate.

(B) Report The Secretary shall report the basis for a waiver under subparagraph (A) to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate.

(C) Definition of noncontiguous State (i) In general In this paragraph, the term “noncontiguous State” means a State that is not 1 of the contiguous 48 States or the District of Columbia. (ii) Exclusions The term “noncontiguous State” does not include Guam or the Virgin Islands of the United States.