Committee hears broad criminal justice bill expanding SNAP access, banning most third‑trimester shackling and raising age for vulnerable witnesses

Representative Chad Perkins, sponsor of House Bill 916, told the House Committee on Corrections and Public Institutions that the measure combines several changes: restoring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility for some people with drug‑related felony convictions, prohibiting most shackling of women in the third trimester of pregnancy in county jails (a policy already adopted by the Department of Corrections for state prisons), and raising the age at which a crime victim is treated as a "vulnerable person" for testimony from 14 to 18.

"It expands SNAP eligibility," Representative Chad Perkins told the committee as he described the bill's provisions. Perkins said he and others consider it inconsistent that people convicted of violent crimes may receive SNAP benefits on release while those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses are…