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

The National Association of Counties (NACo) announces the launch of the Transforming Human Services Initiative, a new effort to help counties modernize benefits administration, integrate service delivery systems and strengthen county capacity to fulfill our responsibility as America’s safety net for children and families. 

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.): “Right now, it is too difficult to access providers … and get mental health care in a facility that is the right size and also the appropriate acuity level to meet patients’ needs.”

Prince William County, Va.’s Crisis Receiving Center is bridging the gap between emergency room care and traditional outpatient care in behavioral crisis response and reducing burden on local law enforcement and hospitals.

Child welfare experts outlined current priorities at the federal level, including better supporting foster care youth who age out of the system and recruiting more foster parents, at NACo’s Human Services and Education Policy Steering Committee meeting.

On February 13, House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.-15) introduced the House version of the 2026 Farm Bill, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.

On January 7, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. unveiled the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030.