Alaskans relying on food stamps have faced years of headaches and delays thanks to state processing backlogs and an application that critics say discourages poor Alaskans from saving or seeking better jobs.
That could be changing with House Bill 344 becoming law last week. The measure includes provisions that simplify the application process for food stamps by removing the onerous asset test and easing the income limit from 130% to 200% of the Alaska poverty line.
The state’s chronic backlog of food stamp applications has spurred several warnings from the federal government over the monthslong waits and lawsuits from Alaskans who say they’ve waited too long to receive their benefits.
During the legislative session, food security advocates told legislators that the limits placed on food stamps — which cap income and the amount of assets, such as vehicles and savings, a family can have — have far-ranging negative impacts on Alaskans. Several relayed stories about how a gifted car or a minor raise put families over the limits, often causing them to lose more benefits than they got from the raise.
The advocates said that in some cases, people gave up their cars or turned down the promotions. In others, families went hungry.
Scott Lingle of Anchorage’s Beans Cafe told the Legislature this year that something as little as a 50 cent raise can put people over the cap. He noted a story of an elementary school student in Anchorage who was skipping meals at school to practice going hungry after his family lost their benefits.
“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 changes remove the asset test — meaning families can save without fear of losing their benefits — and increase the income level before benefits are cut off. Under the old law, most recipients of food stamps had to prove they had less than $2,750 in total assets, a time-intensive and frequently confusing task that contributed to the state’s backlog in processing applications.
Anchorage Rep. Genevieve Mina, a Democrat, and Sen. Cathy Giessel, a Republican, backed the provision this session. It was added onto a larger bill by Gov. Mike Dunleavy dealing with how Medicaid funding is used. In an unusual move, the governor didn’t sign his bill into law and instead let it become law without his signature.
“Too many working families and seniors risk losing SNAP benefits when pursuing economic independence and financial stability,” Mina said in a statement about the bill becoming law. “This bill fixes that problem by adjusting the upper-income threshold and removing the asset limit so that Alaskans on the edge don’t automatically lose their SNAP benefits when they get a pay increase or grow their savings.”
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.
