Department of Workforce Services outlines budget requests, highlights Summer EBT and TANF proposals

The Department of Workforce Services presented an overview of its programs and four budget requests to the Comic and Community Development Appropriations Subcommittee on Jan. 30, 2025, including a request to fund administration of a Summer EBT benefit for school‑age children and a general‑fund ask to cover higher phone‑system costs.

Casey Cameron, executive director of the Department of Workforce Services, told the committee the department’s mission is to “strengthen Utah’s communities by connecting the workforce to new opportunities and providing services to individuals and families in need.” He said the department receives most of its funding from federal sources (roughly $1,000,000,000) and about $128,000,000 from the state general fund. Cameron described major program lines including nutritional assistance (roughly $600,000,000) and operations and policy (about $453,000,000). He also reviewed the department’s subdivisions — workforce development, eligibility services, housing and community development, childcare, the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, unemployment insurance, and refugee services — and noted about 2,000 department employees statewide.

Nut graf: The department asked the committee to consider one general‑fund request and three other budget items that are either federal‑funded or require committee spending authority, and it described a separate TANF‑eligible pilot to help people transition off public assistance.

The specific budget requests that Kevin Burt, deputy director, presented were:

- Summer EBT (listed in the request documents as “summer meals for school‑aged children”): a request of $1,855,800 in public education funds (one‑time in the packet) to cover administrative costs for Summer EBT for three summers. Burt said an annual administrative cost of $618,700 would support a drawdown of roughly $31,200,000 in federal food benefits each summer to about 260,000 eligible children; tripling the administrative appropriation would, he said, allow the state to draw down about $31.2 million each summer for 2026–28 (approximately $94 million total federal benefits over three summers). Legislative fiscal staff recommended the committee consider ongoing funding at $618,700 rather than one‑time funding to avoid interruption.

- Cloud‑based call center: a $225,000 ongoing general‑fund appropriation (the state share of a $450,000 total cost increase) to cover higher costs after statewide modernization of the enterprise phone system. Burt said DWS handles more than 1,200,000 eligibility calls and more than 100,000 unemployment insurance calls annually.

- Unemployment insurance (UI) modernization: a motion seeking committee spending authority to use previously awarded federal Reed Act funds (federal funds designated for UI modernization). The department said this request requires spending authority only and not general fund.

- Post‑public‑assistance stabilization (a TANF‑eligible competitive grant): a $6,000,000 one‑time TANF request that would fund community partners to provide case management, financial planning and services designed to help TANF‑eligible households transition toward self‑sufficiency over the next three years.

Burt also reviewed DWS budget reductions the agency submitted: two consensus reductions totaling $809,400 and two optional reductions, including a proposed $1,000,000 one‑time rollback of the Summer EBT appropriation (which the department said would shut down the Summer EBT program and forfeit the federal drawdown) and a $1,000,000 one‑time reduction to a law enforcement first‑time homebuyer down‑payment assistance program (the department said removing that funding would eliminate roughly 71 forgivable down‑payment awards, average forgivable award about $14,000).

Committee members asked how a temporary federal grants freeze might affect DWS. Burt said benefit programs for individuals (SNAP, Medicaid, childcare subsidies, rent assistance) would not be frozen, but optional programs such as Summer EBT could be discontinued if the federal funding stream were interrupted.

The department also reviewed non‑budget matters: eligibility processes, online access (jobs.utah.gov), refugee services (the department said there are about 65,000 refugees in Utah who participate in the workforce), and workforce development services including 30 employment centers and jobs.utah.gov listings.

Ending: The meeting later recessed to other agenda items; a motion to adjourn the full hearing passed unanimously at the end of the session.