(a) The Commissioner of Social Services shall seek a waiver from federal law to allow persons who live in an area in which (1) the unemployment rate is greater than ten per cent, or (2) there is an insufficient number of jobs to provide such persons with employment, to be exempt from the three-month participation limit of the supplemental nutrition assistance program implemented pursuant to the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008.

(b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall implement vehicle evaluation provisions in accordance with 7 C.F.R. § 273.8(f)(4).

(c) The Commissioner of Social Services, pursuant to 7 USC 2014(e)(6), shall implement the federal option to mandate the use of a standard utility allowance, to be used in place of actual utility costs, for purposes of calculating the excess shelter deduction of applicants for, or recipients of, supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits. Pursuant to 7 USC 2014(e)(6)(C)(iii)(III), the commissioner shall not prorate a standard utility allowance based upon the fact that an assisted household shares the utility with an individual who is not a member of the assisted household.