Oregon panel hears SNAP budget, fraud and program changes in informational hearing on SB 5526

Co-Chair Campos and Co-Chair Valderrama convened a March 11 informational hearing on Senate Bill 5526, the Department of Human Services’ primary budget bill, focusing on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Claire Seguin, director of self-sufficiency programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), opened the presentation and outlined SNAP’s reach and outcomes in Oregon. “SNAP provides a critical lifeline of benefits to families with low incomes to supplement their grocery budget,” Seguin said, adding that SNAP participation in Oregon serves more than 420,000 cases—representing over 700,000 individuals.

The department emphasized the program’s public-health and economic effects. Seguin said SNAP reduces the chance of a household being without enough food by as much as 30 percent and that Oregon’s SNAP participation rate is among the highest in the nation. Heather Miles, SNAP program manager at ODHS, described the range of allowable purchases on EBT cards (groceries, seeds, dairy and similar items) and items that remain ineligible (alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and hot prepared meals).

Why it matters

Legislators pressed ODHS on program costs, implementation questions and recent changes to federal rules that have affected benefits. Committee members focused on three recurring concerns: (1) the end of pandemic-era emergency allotments and resulting reductions in household benefits, (2) rising incidents of electronic benefit theft that have prompted consideration of new EBT card technology, and (3) state proposals to simplify access for older adults and people with disabilities.

Emergency allotments and economic impact

Seguin and Miles reviewed the end of the emergency allotment (EA) program, a federal measure created in March 2020 that provided extra SNAP dollars during the COVID-19 public-health emergency and ended nationally in December 2022. ODHS told the panel that emergency allotments in Oregon provided more than $2 billion in additional food benefits above regular SNAP allotments. The department said the abrupt end of EAs reduced monthly benefits for some older adults from approximately $281 to $23 in specific cases and that the loss of EA dollars also reduced retail and farmer-market revenues in communities.

EBT security and chip-and-tap cards

ODHS officials described increases in…