The following is a curated list of news articles by U.S. state and nationally that discussed SNAP benefits in February 2024.
National
Letter from Secretary Vilsack to Governors on SNAP Performance and Operations
- Poor performance on the SNAP efficiency measures meant 44 states got letters from the USDA expecting improvements.
Congressional leaders agree on ag funding as Vilsack talks about SNAP pilot
The SNAP pilot they discuss is the SNAP-choice pilot, limiting purchasable foods to “nutrient-dense” foods. Unsurprising that a paternalistic policy with the name “SNAP-choice” is being pushed by a Republican. See the next article for the industry’s response.
“GusNIP” must be one of the worse acronyms out there.
Nearly 2,500 Independent Grocery Stores Ask Congress to Oppose SNAP Restrictions
2,500 signatories sounds better than one trade association. This accounts for slightly less than 1% of the nearly 260K retailers that accept SNAP benefits (number from their own letter).
Here is the actual letter. Prior to starting to read these sorts of arguments, I didn’t realize how much money retailers make off SNAP. This association is simultaneously blocking efforts by Republicans to stop SNAP restrictions and a bi-partisan reporting requirement.
Here is a considerate response against the Association’s response from the American Enterprise Institute, pointing out that restrictions already exist on what can be purchased, how the point of the pilot is to find out if health outcomes improve, and that SNAP is purposefully designed to increase nutrition among low-income households.
PR alert - an online-only grocery store made the news for now accepting EBT payments. Many of the placed news articles somewhat ignore the USDA pilot has been ongoing, and online EBT payments are accepted by a retailers in all 50 states currently. But this is the first online only store, apparently. It still seems heavily promoted with sensationalist headlines.
Fetterman introduces legislation regulating SNAP retailers
- Here is the link to the bill (text not yet available at time of publishing).
- Here is the link to the bill. Meant to exclude cost of living increases from SNAP income assessments.
Alaska
Bill would relax food stamp income eligibility requirements for Alaskans
Food assistance advocates seeking substantial fixes as record demand, food stamp problems persist
- Most of the articles I’ve seen, when discussing backlogs, refer to department statements that the agencies are successfully working through them and should be cleared soon. That isn’t a relief to families who needed assistance months ago, however, and I am curious about lessons learned from state agencies in handling unexpected influxes in applications.
New York
https://gothamist.com/news/thieves-are-stealing-millions-of-dollars-of-new-yorkers-cash-benefits
https://collive.com/multiple-reports-of-ebt-food-stamps-stolen-in-crown-heights/
SNAP Benefits Could Be Quadrupled for Millions of Recipients
- NY State Senate has a bill in committee which proposes a increase in minimum payments by the difference between the monthly SNAP payment and $95 or $100, depending on if you read the bill sponsor memo or the proposed amendment text as of 2/20/24. Perhaps they copied New Jersey, which increased theirs to $95. This article confused the bill text with the sponsor memo it seems.
New Proposal Would Automatically Apply Coupons For SNAP Recipients
- The news article rightly raises some pointed, insightful questions about the proposal, like, how the f*** would this work? Bill linked here, but I’ll just copy and paste the text here because the entire proposal is three sentences.
Section 1. Section 95 of the social services law is amended by adding a new subdivision 12 to read as follows: 12.(a)Any food distributor that accepts SNAP benefits shall establish a mechanism to apply any available coupons or discounts to purchases made by eligible recipients of SNAP benefits. (b Any such available coupons or discounts shall be automatically applied when a customer makes a purchase using SNAP. An eligible recipient of SNAP benefits shall not be required to provide a physical coupon in order to receive the discount from such coupon. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
New Mexico
State seeing backlog of SNAP applications and renewals
- With these types of articles, and the one below, I am curious to learn more about the technology used to process and approve applications and renewals. How many can one person do each day?
Former HSD contract workers share their concerns on SNAP benefit processing
- Workers means one worker. Not a very newsworthy criticism, but it is interesting to see reporters focus on the failures of the state government SNAP application workers.
Nebraska
- Nebraska lawmaker wants mandatory work requirements for SNAP benefits
Another very short bill proposal. It’s interesting because of the relevant fiscal analysis finds that the cost of making the current program mandatory “is $329,036 in FY25 and $460,651 in FY26,” while for expanding the program to new areas, “the estimated cost is $1,964,927 in FY25 and $2,750,897 in FY26.”
Somehow the news article calculates the cost to be ~4.5 million, but summing those numbers gives me a estimated cost of $5,505,511 over 2 years.
On the program’s website, it states that “Participants must live in or around one of the services areas below. SNAP Next Step E&T is currently expanding and new areas are being added”.
Expanding the SNAP program constitutes about 85% of the estimated 2-year cost.
The OpenSky Policy Institute quoted against this bill provides reasonable evidence that work mandates aren’t clearly effective, but also conveniently uses the larger number in their response.
I am curious if the lawmaker will rewrite the bill to clarify that it will be mandatory in current service areas without expansion.
An additional interesting note in the fiscal analysis is the delay forced by updating regulations:
However, the primary barrier to this time frame will be that the 475 NAC regulations will need to be updated as current regulations state that E&T is a voluntary program. The regulation process can take over 12 months to complete.
LB 1381, FISCAL NOTE, PREPARED BY: Mikayla Findla
Oklahoma
- USDA sends letters to Oklahoma, 46 others over poor SNAP benefit efficiency
- No comment, one of many.
Ohio
- Applying for SNAP benefits? In Cuyahoga County, expect to wait on hold for an hour … if you’re lucky enough to get through
- I tried to locate this data on the county website, but was unsuccessful. I’m not even sure the website or phone number is correct. I don’t understand how news articles don’t link to the sources of what they are reporting on.
From the Cuyahoga County website SNAP page. It is a bit unclear to me if you need to apply online, then call, then go to a local library, then go to a Family Service Center?
Amazingly, the Apply Online link in Step 1 leads to a 404 error (https://benefits.ohio.gov/)
Mississippi, Kansas
The feds tell Missouri and Kansas to fix SNAP application errors, as thousands lose food benefits
- Misleading headline, somewhat. Errors in their SNAP applications are not causing thousands to lose their benefits. This is reporting on the recent letters from the USDA on these states not meeting the minimum performance indicators.
Tennessee
- They mention bringing in an outside contractor - to solve the software issue? I am a bit confused on how outside contractors can be leveraged for SNAP applications.
Kentucky
- GOP bills to cut SNAP benefits, loosen child labor laws advance in House
First off, what a combination for a headline. The bill is available here.
Reading the changes, the proposal removes many of the waivers available while prohibiting any increases to benefits unless required by federal law. Waivers to the work requirements were previously available without approval from the General Assembly if a) a county with an unemployment rate of 10% or more, b) if the cabinet “determines economic conditions are severe enough in a county”, or c) if the state’s unemployment rate is 10% or more, a statewide waiver could be granted (p.4).
From the FRED, the statewide unemployment rate is very rarely above 10%; county level maps (Dec. 2023, annual 2022) indicate that 10% unemployment is also rare; so I’m curious to see if option b) is ever applied, and in what circumstances. How often are these waivers granted?
A local news report on this with some quotes is here, or here.
Sponsor Rep. Wade Williams, R-Earlington, called Kentucky’s economy “red hot” and cited the roughly 112,000 job openings in the state as of November, down from 118,000 in October.
It’s surprising, since a report that the author links to indicates available job openings decreasing steadily, and in November 2023, Kentucky had a rate of .8 unemployed people per job opening - so there are not enough people looking for work to even fill the available jobs - plus considering it is likely that individuals on SNAP may not be able to work.
Secondly, the bill reinstates an asset test:
This would exclude households that have savings worth $2,750 as long as there are no disabled or elderly people in the household. This number increases to $4,250 for seniors and people with disabilities….
How does the asset test work? These two reports do a nice job of explaining:
Iowa
https://www.radioiowa.com/2024/02/19/u-s-d-a-says-iowa-needs-to-speed-up-processing-of-snap-benefits
California
https://www.independent.com/2024/02/13/santa-barbara-county-sees-big-spike-in-food-stamp-cases
Washington D.C.
- DC SNAP recipients begin receiving extra temporary benefits in their accounts
- Details here, lasting until September 2024. It appears to be based on a bill from FY 2022, but not funded last year.
West Virginia
https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/02/14/snap-food-stamp-benefit-senate-changes