Administrative costs

Subject to subsection (k), the Secretary is authorized to pay to each State agency, through fiscal year 2026, 50 percent, and for fiscal year 2027 and each fiscal year thereafter, 25 percent, of all administrative costs involved in each State agency’s operation of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, which costs shall include, but not be limited to, the cost of (1) the certification of applicant households, (2) the acceptance, storage, protection, control, and accounting of benefits after their delivery to receiving points within the State, (3) the issuance of benefits to all eligible households, (4) informational activities relating to the supplemental nutrition assistance program, including those undertaken under section 2020(e)(1)(A) of this title , but not including recruitment activities designed to persuade an individual to apply for program benefits or that promote the program through television, radio, or billboard advertisements, (5) fair hearings, (6) automated data processing and information retrieval systems subject to the conditions set forth in subsection (g), (7) supplemental nutrition assistance program investigations and prosecutions, (8) implementing and operating the immigration status verification system established under section 1137(d) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1320b–7(d) ), and (9) establishing and operating a longitudinal database in accordance with section 2026(n) of this title : Provided , That the Secretary is authorized at the Secretary’s discretion to pay any State agency administering the supplemental nutrition assistance program on all or part of an Indian reservation under section 2020(d) of this title or in a Native village within the State of Alaska identified in section 1610(b) of title 43 , such amounts for administrative costs as the Secretary determines to be necessary for effective operation of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, as well as to permit each State to retain 35 percent of the value of all funds or allotments recovered or collected pursuant to sections 2015(b) and 2022(c) of this title and 20 percent of the value of any other funds or allotments recovered or collected, except the value of funds or allotments recovered or collected that arise from an error of a State agency. The officials responsible for making determinations of ineligibility under this chapter shall not receive or benefit from revenues retained by the State under the provisions of this subsection.