SNAP needs funding and flexibility, county official tells lawmakers

Key Takeaways

Stable support of the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is essential to effectively serve the people who depend on it, county official Joy Bivens told a congressional committee last week. Nearly 42 million people across the country depend on SNAP benefits each month.  

Bivens, the deputy county administrator for Franklin County, Ohio’s Health and Human Services Department and vice chair of NACo’s Human Services and Education committee, testified before Congress on behalf of NACo in the Sept. 9 “Exploring State Options in SNAP” hearing.  

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Legislative Toolkit for Counties: Priorities for Strengthening the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 

Addressing the House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture, Bivens emphasized the importance of stable funding and flexibility for counties that administer SNAP. Bivens also highlighted the critical role of operational tools, such as Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility and the Standard Utility Allowance, to streamline applications.  

“Stable federal support and practical flexibility are essential to effective SNAP delivery,” Bivens said. “County-specific responsibilities vary by state law and by the design of state technology systems and policies. Where states permit counties greater operational flexibilities, counties have deployed innovation and improved outcomes.”  

H.R. 1 reduces the federal share of the SNAP administrative match to 25% from 50%, meaning counties will have to substantially increase contributions starting in fiscal year 2027. In Franklin County, the cost shift will require approximately $7.5 million in additional local spending each year to maintain current service levels, so funding and flexibility moving forward are “critical,” according to Bivens. The majority of Franklin County’s more than 183,000 SNAP recipients are children or seniors, Bivens noted.  

“This shift arrives as counties across the country face outdated technology, staffing challenges and increasing pressure to improve timeliness and reduce payment errors,” Bivens said. “With stable funding and operational flexibility, counties can continue to deliver timely service without shifting unsustainable burdens on local taxpayers.”  

While it’s important for localities to maintain flexibility, there must also be accountability for high error rates that “prevent benefits from being directed to our most vulnerable populations,” said Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.). 

"I believe that everybody in this room shares the same goal, ensuring that SNAP benefits reach those who truly need them,” Mann said. “If there are ways to make improvements to how states and localities are administering this program and ways to root out waste, fraud and abuse, we should pursue these solutions and ensure that they are implemented effectively, as Congress intended." 

Monitoring obligations have dramatically increased due to expansions to work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents, Bivens said. In Ohio alone, an expected 17,000 veterans, former foster youth and people experiencing homelessness will now be subject to work requirements.  

To meet the new demands established by the legislation, counties need targeted support to recruit and train staff, who often need more than a year to be proficient in their roles, Bivens noted.  

States with payment error rates of 10% or more must pay a 15% cost-share of total SNAP benefits under H.R. 1. States with an error rate below 6% will not have to pay a cost-share of benefits, but will still be required to bear more administrative costs.   

In Franklin County, increased administrative costs “will cause a decrease in our contractual services, meaning less dollars to our nonprofits to support our most vulnerable, less dollars in our food pantries, less dollars in our workforce programs,” Bivens said.   

In fiscal year 2024, only eight states had an error rate below 6% — Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The national payment error rate for fiscal year 2024 was 10.93%.  

Ohio’s payment error rate has gone down in recent years, but if it remained the same as it stands today, it would cost the state $300 million, according to Bivens — which would “debilitate” the human services branch, she added.   

“There are always going to be errors, because it’s not error proof,” Bivens said. “And so, what this could possibly do to communities and counties is it would ‘lean’ our budgets, and then we would have to make decisions on what other areas do we cut and how does that impact the residents in our communities?”  

Rep. Brad Finstad (R-Minn.), the House Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture chairman, said the legislation is “finally creating real accountability incentives for states with high payment error rates.” 

“We are protecting the hard-working American taxpayer who has been footing the $100 billion annual SNAP bill that increased by close to 70% in five years,” Finstad said. “… The facts are that this program was on an unsustainable trajectory, and H.R. 1 is putting it back on a better path. SNAP must be based on the goal of reaching nutrition independence, financial independence and the American dream.” 

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the Agriculture Committee’s ranking member, said that the reduction in federal funding will only contribute to higher error rates, and the legislation is setting up states and local governments to fail.  

“The combinations of added red tape and paperwork, program changes and fewer staff create a perfect storm that will send state error rates upward, putting states at risk of being fined millions of dollars by the federal government,” Craig said. “… None of these changes help reduce hunger in our communities.  

“Seniors who rely on SNAP to stay healthy and live independently, parents who use SNAP to keep their children fed, veterans struggling while finding stable housing or employment who use SNAP to keep food on the table do not benefit from states being intentionally overwhelmed and under-resourced.” 

Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility is a SNAP policy that allows states to raise income and asset limits and helps ensure “working families don’t have to choose between accepting a promotion and losing benefits or turning down a better paying job to keep food on the table,” Bivens said.   

Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility is currently utilized in 24 states and territories — “red and blue, alike” — to ease SNAP benefit “cliffs,” but because of H.R. 1, states could be forced to opt out of the option, according to Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn).   

Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility also lowers administrative burden, streamlining applications and recertifications for households already screened through other public assistance programs, which cuts down on time spent processing applications, according to Bivens.  

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) discussed how removing Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility would impact his constituents.   

“When it comes to food assistance, Categorical Eligibility makes sure SNAP is a bridge, not a trap,” McGovern said. “So, if someone is working hard but is still struggling — making, say, $30,000 a year — they can still get some food assistance in Massachusetts.   

“In Mississippi [a state that doesn’t offer Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility], that same person would be cut off at $20,000. You get no benefits in Mississippi — you’d have $20,000 a year to cover rent, utilities, health care and food. And that is the recipe for keeping people in poverty.”  

Finstad said the “status quo” of the food benefits program isn't working, and H.R. 1 will help address the “root problems struggling Americans face.” 

“After the passage of H.R. 1, we have the opportunity to serve folks on this program better,” Finstad said. “To remove some burdens from the taxpayers and get people off SNAP into independent futures.” 

People will have to find out how to pay for these services at the local level — “there is no other way around it,” Craig said in her closing remarks. States will be left to make hard decisions, even ending SNAP altogether, because of the legislation, she said.   

Counties want "to work together to strengthen administration, maintain integrity, and improve outcomes." However, under the administrative cost shift and expanded work requirements, counties will face an increased fiscal and administrative burden, putting other supportive services, such as workforce training and childcare, at risk and making innovation more difficult, Bivens said.  

“It's almost like whack-a-mole,” Bivens said. “We would defund a lot of supportive services for our residents in order to figure out how we move forward.”