With the state facing another massive backlog in food stamp applications and warnings from the feds that the program is “ineffective and inefficient,” lawmakers are considering legislation that would ease eligibility standards and streamline the application process.
Senate Bill 149 and its companion legislation, House Bill 198, would raise the income level for eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty guideline and do away with time-intensive tests that require most recipients to prove they have less than $2,750 in assets. SB 149 was heard in the Senate Health and Social Services Committee for the first time on Tuesday.
Backers of the legislation argue that the changes would ease the administrative burden of running the program, which the state has struggled with over the last several years, resulting in monthslong waits for families to apply and receive benefits. They also argue it will encourage low-income Alaskans to find work and save when doing so under the current system could result in the loss of benefits.
“It just makes it a whole lot easier for the department and families to apply,” said bill sponsor Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, during Tuesday’s hearing, noting that the state has spent millions of dollars on food bank grants because of the backlog. “Not doing this will cost us millions and leave people without food.”
In prior hearings about the backlog, state officials chalked up some of the struggle to the time- and effort-intensive applications requiring a full account of assets like bank accounts, property, vehicles and even tools. Officials said the applications can take technicians upwards of an hour to process, not including the additional delays due to missing or incomplete documents.
That asset test isn’t required by the federal government, which gives states flexibility in running food stamp programs. In technical terms, the proposed change would implement what’s called broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE for food stamps, a move that more than 40 states have already implemented.
Division of Public Assistance Director Deb Etheridge said the changes would also reduce the error rate in processing applications, another area where the state is leading the nation and a potential source of penalties by the federal government. She was hesitant, however, to say the changes would reduce workforce needs and is requesting two additional positions — at about $300,000 a year — if the change is implemented. She also said she couldn’t predict what would happen to enrollment in the program.
In testimony to the committee, Food Bank of Alaska CEO Cara Durr pointed out that Iowa moved in the opposite direction recently, implementing asset tests in a move that required more than 200 new government employees. She said Iowa’s program is much bigger, but her estimate would be that the change would save Alaska nearly $500,000 per year in administrative time.
But state savings is far from the driving reason behind the bill.
Several food bank groups from throughout the state testified in support of the legislation, arguing that the current system’s sharp cutoff for income and asset cap discourages people from seeking better jobs or saving.
“Right now, if someone had $5,000 in the bank that they were saving for a car or a rental deposit and they applied for SNAP, they would be denied for being over the asset limit,” Durr said. “However, they could spend that money down and potentially qualify. We know the critical role savings have in transitioning and keeping people out of poverty long term, yet without BBCE, low-income Alaskans are disincentivized to save. The system we have is encouraging families to spend down resources needed to become and remain financially stable in favor of temporary assistance.”
Something as minor as a 50 cents raise — Scott Lingle of Anchorage’s Beans Cafe explained — can be enough to disqualify someone from food stamps, and the resulting loss in benefits would be greater than the money from their raise.
Lingle relayed two stories of children whose families are facing food insecurity in Anchorage after they were disqualified from SNAP benefits when they received minor raises: one who asked for seven meals but said six was fine because it was her day to skip eating, and another who started to decline free meals because he said he was practicing going hungry.
“They went over that threshold by $7 and were denied SNAP, and when they were denied SNAP they were also denied free school lunch because they were over that threshold,” he said. “So, here is a young man having to practice to be hungry in the city of Anchorage.”
The committee is set to take up amendments to the legislation next week and could advance the bill to its next stop, which will be the Senate Finance Committee. House Bill 198, which proposes the same changes, has not yet been heard in the House.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
