Posted on

Statement on the Passage of SF 494

Yesterday evening, the Iowa Senate passed Senate File 494 on a 34-16 party line vote, the same day a fiscal note was released for the bill. Similar pieces of legislation have passed the Senate before, and we have always known our fight is in the House. We are not discouraged by the passage of SF 494. Rather, we are re-energized to stop this harmful piece of legislation.

SF 494 and a similar bill in the House, HF 613, would remove Iowans from SNAP and other public assistance programs and increase hunger and food insecurity in the state. They would increase SNAP administrative costs to the state of Iowa in an effort to make it more difficult for struggling Iowans to access nutrition benefits.

Make no mistake – Iowans would be harmed by these bills. Families would be harmed. Children would be harmed. Seniors would be harmed. People with disabilities would be harmed. Food banks and food pantries would be harmed. Other nonprofit organizations and social service agencies would be harmed. Local grocery stores would be harmed. Rural communities would be harmed. Farmers would be harmed. Iowa’s economy would be harmed.

We hope the legislators who supported SF 494 felt a pang of guilt when they cast their ‘yes’ vote.

Posted on

URGENT: SF 494 is on the Senate Debate Calendar for March 22

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!

Find Your Legislator

You can also find some basic statistics on SNAP for your Senator’s district below, which you can use when contacting them.

‘SNAP Basics’ for Senators

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.

Posted on

Legislative Update: Funnel Week

On Tuesday, February 28, both HF 3 and SSB 1105 came before their respective Health and Human Services Committees. Both bills advanced out committee with amendment – on a party-line vote in the Senate, and with two Republicans (Rep. Eddie Andrews and Rep. Brian Lohse) joining the Democrats to vote against House File 3 in the House.

Please take the time to send a note of thanks to all those who voted against these bad bills!

House File 3 has been renumbered to House File 613, and Senate Study Bill 1105 has been renumbered to Senate File 494.

While this is a frustrating setback, we’re not done fighting. House File 613 and Senate File 494 are now both eligible for floor debate. Both bills were amended to align language between them, but there are still some differences between the bills. HF 613 contains some additional pieces that are not included in SF 494.

Please contact your Representative and Senator and tell them to vote “NO” on HF 613 / SF 494 should they come to the floor!

Find Your Legislators

We have also updated the Protect SNAP page on our website with updated information about the bills, and “SNAP Basics” handouts for all legislators.

Let’s not forget – SNAP enrollment in Iowa is at a 14-year low right now. SNAP benefits are 100% federally funded, and the state has a 50-50 cost share on administrative costs with the USDA, which have remained stable for over 10 years. This legislation is a solution in search of a problem.

Posted on

SSB 1105 Subcommittee Meeting on 2/15

A subcommittee meeting for Senate Study Bill 1105 has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 15, at 11:00am in Room 315.

A Zoom link for the meeting is here, and public comments can be submitted in advance, but we also recommend you email the subcommittee members below directly with your concerns about the bill.

What’s in SSB 1105?

  • Establishing an asset test for SNAP in Iowa. Households on SNAP would have an asset limit of $2,750, or $4,250 if a member of the household had a disability or was age 60+. Households with more than one vehicle would especially be at risk of losing their benefits.

    Iowa is currently one of 36 states that does not have an asset test for SNAP. Asset tests have been shown to discourage people from saving for emergencies and removing people from the program even when they fall below the asset limit, but fail to jump through the additional administrative hoops.

  • Requiring custodial parents to cooperate with the child support recovery unit to be eligible for SNAP. By definition, these are households with children in them, and we do not believe there is a way to implement this policy that would not take food away from children.

  • Requiring applicants for public assistance programs to complete a computerized questionnaire to prove their identity. We believe this provision could be improved by making this process voluntary and not mandatory, with an opt-out process.

  • Overhauling the state’s eligibility verification system for public assistance programs. The Department of Health and Human Services is nearing completion of a Business Process Redesign, why are we proposing an overhaul of the system right now?

Please contact the members of the subcommittee for SSB 1105 and ask them not to advance the bill!

Let’s not forget – SNAP enrollment in Iowa is at a 14-year low right now. SNAP benefits are 100% federally funded, and the state has a 50-50 cost share on administrative costs with the USDA, which have remained stable for over 10 years. SSB 1105, like HF 3, is a solution in search of a problem.

Posted on

IHC February 2023 Monthly Meetup

Join the Iowa Hunger Coalition for our next monthly meetup!

Wednesday, February 15, 10:00-11:00am

We’ll provide an update on bills we’re currently monitoring in the Iowa Legislature, give some basic information on what’s in the Farm Bill (which will be a big topic in Congress this year), and share updates from folks across the state.

Register to Attend
Posted on

Action Alert: SSB 1105

Update: the February 2nd subcommittee meeting for SSB 1105 was postponed.

Yesterday saw the introduction of Senate Study Bill 1105, which targets SNAP and other public assistance programs. A subcommittee meeting for this bill has already been scheduled for Thursday, February 2, at 10:00am.

Please contact the members of the subcommittee for SSB 1105 today and tell them you do not support this harmful bill!

Sen. Jeff Edler – jeff.edler@legis.iowa.gov
Sen. Mark Costello – mark.costello@legis.iowa.gov
Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott – sarah.trone.garriott@legis.iowa.gov

One note on the subcommittee meeting tomorrow: you can testify remotely in the Senate via Zoom!

Zoom Info for SSB 1105 Subcommittee

SSB 1105 is similar to House File 3, but is not identical. Some key differences:

  • SSB 1105 does not restrict the purchase of soda and candy from SNAP, nor does it include a $1 million appropriation for the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program.

  • SSB 1105 does not contain the sections on work requirements for the Medicaid expansion population or banning the use of pre-populated forms for Medicaid.

Unfortunately, SSB 1105 does include some very harmful provisions that are also in HF 3, including:

  • Establishing an asset limit of $2,750 for SNAP households, or $4,250 if there is at least one member of the household with a disability or age 60+. Families with more than one vehicle would especially be at risk of losing access to SNAP.

  • Requiring custodial parents to cooperate with the child support recovery unit in order to be eligible for SNAP. By definition, these are households with children. There is not a way to implement this policy without taking food away from children.

  • Requiring all public assistance program applicants to complete a computerized questionnaire to prove their identity and creating additional eligibility verification processes.

Please contact the members of the subcommittee for SSB 1105 today and tell them to put a stop to this harmful bill!

Keep up the great work, advocates!

Posted on

Week 3: Next Steps to Stop HF 3

The subcommittee meeting for House File 3 was held yesterday, and the room was absolutely packed full of advocates speaking out against HF 3. People are fired up about this bill and legislators and the media took notice. Thank you to everyone who spoke out against HF 3 and helped to raise awareness about this bad bill!

While the outcome was not what we hoped, it was what we expected. The bill advanced out of the subcommittee on a 2-1 party line vote, but members of the subcommittee said they will be making changes to the bill before it comes before the full House Health and Human Services Committee. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

But first, let’s celebrate a win! The WIC-approved food list is out. Iowans spoke loud and clear that they did not want our legislators limiting the food options for low-income Iowans. But, while the WIC list is out, there is going to be an amendment to ban soda and candy from SNAP purchases.

The coming days and weeks are going to be critical in stopping HF 3. Please contact the members of the House Health and Human Services Committee (listed below) and ask them to:

  • Scrap the asset test. This is one of the most harmful pieces of the bill and would especially put Iowans with more than one vehicle at risk of losing access to SNAP benefits. Iowans well below the asset limit would also be at risk of losing their benefits due to the additional administrative hoops Iowans would have to jump through.

  • Provide a clean $1 million appropriation for the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program. Currently this funding is contingent upon the USDA granting Iowa a waiver to restrict soda and candy from SNAP, something we believe is highly unlikely to happen. The state should instead provide a clean $1 million for DUFB that is not tied to any other piece of HF 3.

  • Better yet, kill the bill entirely! There are a lot of other bad pieces of HF 3, including work requirements for the Medicaid expansion population, requiring custodial parents to cooperate with the child support recovery unit to receive SNAP, a computerized identity authentication process, and other administrative hurdles for Iowans accessing public assistance programs.

Visit iowahungercoalition.org/protect-snap for more info on HF 3.

Iowa House Health and Human Services Committee Members

Rep. Ann Meyer – ann.meyer@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Tom Jeneary – tom.jeneary@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Devon Wood – devon.wood@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell – beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Eddie Andrews – eddie.andrews@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Austin Baeth – austin.baeth@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Michael Bergan – michael.bergan@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Brian Best – brian.best@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Brooke Boden – brooke.boden@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Steven Bradley – steven.bradley@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Timi Brown-Powers – timi.brown-powers@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. John Forbes – john.forbes@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Joel Fry – joel.fry@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Barb Kniff McCulla – barb.kniffmcculla@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Brian Lohse – brian.lohse@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Shannon Lundgren – shannon.lundgren@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Mary Madison – mary.madison@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Heather Matson – heather.matson@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Thomas Moore – tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Josh Turek – josh.turek@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Hans Wilz – hans.wilz@legis.iowa.gov

Posted on

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad SNAP Bill

It’s the end of the first week of the 2023 Iowa legislative session, and the news is, well, not good. As you may have guessed from the title of this post, we saw a bill introduced this week targeting SNAP, House File 3.

This bill would restrict SNAP participants’ ability to make their own food choices, take food away from Iowans, and increase hunger and food insecurity in our state. The harmful proposals in the bill include:

  • Restricting SNAP purchases to only foods on the WIC-approved food item list. This would severely limit the foods people could purchase with their SNAP benefits. SNAP recipients could no longer purchase meat, other than certain varieties of canned tuna and salmon. Meat, Poultry, and Seafood is the #1 food category purchased by SNAP participants nationwide, amounting to 1 in every 5 dollars of SNAP benefits spent.

    Other foods that would be restricted from SNAP purchases make up a lengthy list including frozen prepared foods, butter, flour, cooking oil, herbs, spices, coffee and tea, cottage cheese, snack foods, nuts and seeds, white rice, rice noodles, jam, canned fruits and vegetables, soup, condiments, white bread, meal kits, bottled water, sliced cheese, crackers, and on and on. It’s much easier to list what you still would be able to purchase with SNAP than to list all the items you could not.

    WIC-approved food list

  • Establishing an asset limit for SNAP. Households would face a limit of $2,750 in assets, or $4,250 in assets if at least one member of the household is age 60 or older, or is disabled. The value of a household’s primary residence and one vehicle would be excluded, as would retirement accounts. Even children’s savings accounts would count toward the asset limit for the household.

    Households with more than one vehicle would be especially at risk of being kicked off SNAP. Having a vehicle can be the difference between finding employment or not, especially in rural areas of the state without public transit. Asset limits also discourage people from saving for emergencies. This policy would keep Iowans stuck in poverty, not help them out.

  • Performing monthly and quarterly eligibility verification checks for SNAP and Medicaid. Such frequent eligibility checks have the potential to make program participants jump through additional hoops and remove people from benefits for which they are eligible, especially when paired with an asset test for SNAP.

  • Requiring participation in the SNAP Employment & Training program to be eligible for SNAP. The bill prohibits the state from exempting people from the SNAP Employment & Training program, which we still have many questions about. But we believe that SNAP E&T should be a voluntary program, not a mandatory program required for SNAP eligibility.

  • Requiring custodial parents to cooperate with the child support recovery unit or lose access to SNAP benefits. There is not a way to implement this provision that does not result in taking food away from children. Furthermore, there is no evidence this type of policy generates significantly more child support payments to custodial households.

Learn more about on this bad bill.

How can you help?


Real stories from real Iowans can stop HF 3, but legislators need to hear loud and clear that we will not stand for this attack on SNAP and the rely on it. You can help stop this bad bill by taking action:

Questions?

Contact us at iowahungercoalition@gmail.com.

Posted on

IHC January 2023 Monthly Meetup

Join the Iowa Hunger Coalition for our next monthly meetup!

Wednesday, January 18, 10:00-11:00am

We’ll provide a refresher on the legislative process in Iowa and walk through some tips and tricks for navigating the legislature’s website to stay updated and engaged on legislative action, lobbyist declarations, and more!

Register to Attend