Senate File 494 is on the debate calendar for the Iowa Senate tomorrow, Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
Please contact your Senator immediately and tell them to vote NO on this harmful piece of legislation!
You can also find some basic statistics on SNAP for your Senator’s district below, which you can use when contacting them.
SF 494 would increase administrative hurdles and remove people from SNAP and other public assistance programs in Iowa. This bill would establish an asset test for SNAP in Iowa and make it more difficult for people to apply for and recertify for their SNAP benefits.
SNAP enrollment in Iowa is currently at a 14-year low. Meanwhile, food banks, food pantries, and anti-hunger organizations from across the state are seeing record-breaking numbers of Iowans turning to them for assistance. The state should be increasing access to SNAP for Iowans facing food insecurity, not making it more difficult to access the program.
Efforts to increase the amount of administrative work for SNAP will only increase costs to the state. SNAP benefits are 100% federally funded, and the state has a 50-50 cost share with USDA on administrative costs, which have remained relatively stable for over 10 years. Any efforts to increase the amount of administrative efforts for SNAP will actually only increase the amount of money the state spends on the program.
We still don’t know how much this legislation will cost. How much will it cost the state to implement these new eligibility verification systems and asset test for SNAP? We don’t know! There has not yet been a fiscal note for this bill, so we don’t know about the potential costs to the state this will have.
Visit iowahungercoalition.org/protect-snap to learn more about Senate File 494.
Not only is it sad to put my tax money into administrative cost instead instead of good got hungry people, but I believe everyone has a right to sufficient food to support health and we’ll being. And think how much we could save on medical care with preventive care such as enough food?