Submission of plan of operation; technical assistance; determination and certification by Secretary of Agriculture

(a) Submission of plan of operation On designating an agency of the kind described in section 3(s)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(s)(1)), Puerto Rico shall have 180 days to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this Act referred to as the Secretary) its plan of operation, including a plan to transition to the supplemental nutrition assistance program under section 4(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2013(a)) as a request to participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance program under such Act. (b) Technical assistance Within the 180-day period specified in subsection (a) and upon request from Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall provide appropriate training and technical assistance to enable Puerto Rico to formulate a plan of operation described in subsection (a). (c) Determination by the Secretary of Agriculture Not later than 180 days after receiving a plan of operation described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall approve the plan of operation if such plan satisfies the requirements for a supplemental nutrition assistance program State plan in accordance with subsections (d) and (e) of section 11 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020). If the Secretary does not approve such plan, the Secretary shall provide, not later than 30 days after disapproval, a statement that specifies each of the requirements that were not satisfied by such plan. (d) Certification by the Secretary of Agriculture If the Secretary approves the plan submitted by Puerto Rico under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress, not later than 90 days thereafter, a certification that Puerto Rico qualifies to participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance program as a State as defined in section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012).