Jill Mosch, division manager for operations and organizational development at Larimer County Human Services, told the Board of Social Services on Aug. 20 that federal legislation nicknamed HR1 will sharply reduce federal funding for food and health programs and shift new administrative costs to states and counties.

Why it matters: county staff said the law will likely reduce the number of people who receive SNAP and Medicaid, increase county workload, and require Larimer County to plan for sizable state-level matches tied to “payment error rates.” County officials scheduled a work session for Oct. 8 to present local data and tell the board how many residents could be affected.

Mosch said HR1 cuts to SNAP amount to roughly $186,000,000,000 over a decade, with nearly 3,000,000 individuals nationwide losing access and an estimated $191,000,000 increase in cost to Colorado. She summarized provisions that will take effect Oct. 1, 2026: expanded work requirements (raising the age for able-bodied adults from 54 to 64 for some rules), restrictions limiting SNAP eligibility to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, elimination of SNAP-Ed, and a reduction of the federal administrative match from 50% to 25%.

Heather O’Hare, Human Services Director, told commissioners the state expects to bear a new share of SNAP benefit costs tied to a state’s payment error rate (PER). “There will be a 10% match or roughly $125 to $160 million that Colorado will have to pay towards SNAP when this goes into effect,” O’Hare said, citing the county’s current PER range and the state’s planning estimates. Larimer County received about $18.7 million in SNAP benefits in the April–June 2025 quarter, she added; statewide SNAP benefits for calendar 2024 were about $1.2 billion.

County staff also highlighted differences in how the law treats SNAP versus Medicaid. O’Hare said: “In SNAP you can receive 90 days of benefits before you are removed from the program,” which preserves short-term food access while counties provide job search case management. “Medicaid…is you meet it or you don't before you receive any Medicaid service,” she said, warning that Medicaid applicants will have to demonstrate compliance with activity requirements in the prior month and that no new federal funding was identified to provide case management to help people meet those work obligations.

Mosch and O’Hare said the state Department of Human Services estimates as many as 75,000 Coloradans might lose SNAP because of new work requirements, and they estimated about 15,000 Coloradans with refugee or asylum status could lose SNAP eligibility immediately under HR1. Both officials said federal guidance on how states should implement these citizenship and eligibility changes was still pending.

Board members asked for local estimates and documentation. Commissioner John Kefalas and Commissioner Cavallos (as recorded in the public transcript) asked for written analyses; county staff said they will deliver a county-specific one-pager and more detailed data at the Oct. 8 work session. County staff also said they will testify before the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee on related bills and monitor the state special session that begins Aug. 21.

Ending note: county staff urged the board that much remains uncertain until federal and state implementing guidance is issued and until Larimer County completes a local data review. The board set an October work session to examine county-specific caseload, fiscal exposure, and possible local responses.