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Committee cites DHS IT delays as reason to defer some SNAP expansions, approves others with two-year waits
Summary
Advocates told the Senate Health committee that SNAP demand has surged and the Department of Human Services is understaffed; DHS said its new benefits system will not roll out statewide until fall 2026, and the committee added two-year implementation delays to several SNAP-related bills and deferred broader expansions.
The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services heard repeated testimony that federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) demand has surged while Department of Human Services staffing and technology problems are hampering access. Committee members responded by deferring a major SNAP expansion and approving narrower SNAP reforms with delayed implementation dates to accommodate DHS modernization.
Nate Hicks of the Hawaii Public Health Institute told the committee that families face a “benefits cliff” and that rising demand has overwhelmed DHS staff. "Right now families who are receiving SNAP benefits are in a no win situation," Hicks said. "They either stay in poverty and rely on SNAP benefits. Or if they try to earn their way out of poverty, they lose maybe 5, $10,000 annually in SNAP benefits. We need to provide a bridge to them to get out of poverty." Hicks also described long waits for interviews, unanswered phone calls and people leaving offices without assistance because staff cannot keep up.
Scott Morishige, Division Administrator for the Benefit, Employment and Support Services division at DHS, told the committee the department completed user-acceptance testing last fall and identified needed changes. He said the vendor-and-agency team relaunched work on a new schedule and that "Our current date for statewide implementation is fall of 2026." Morishige said the legacy system — nearly 40 years old — cannot automatically extend certification periods beyond 12 months, so some bill provisions would require manual processing that could increase staff workload and cause delays.
Committee response and actions
- SB 53, a proposal to expand SNAP eligibility (to 300% of the federal poverty level), was deferred indefinitely; the chair cited missing fiscal data, the timing of federal guidance and DHS software problems as reasons to delay. Advocates were encouraged to refile next year.
- SB 960, SB 961 and SB 963 (measures with SNAP-related administrative changes) were passed with amendments that include delayed effective dates of two years to allow DHS time to complete the BES modernization and resolve staffing shortfalls.
- The committee accepted a DHS-proposed amendment to remove a treatment requirement tied to pre-release or work-furlough participation for a reentry-related SNAP provision, saying current pre-release and work-furlough requirements make a separate treatment requirement unnecessary.
Why it matters: advocates emphasized that SNAP access problems are affecting people now, while DHS officials warned that immediate statutory changes — implemented on aging IT systems and limited staff capacity — could worsen processing delays. The committee’s approach attempts to balance immediate needs and administrative readiness by deferring some expansions and delaying others.
Ending
The committee directed DHS to provide further information on system needs and requested fiscal data when available. Bills that were given delayed implementation dates will return to active effect only after the department’s modernization progress and the committee’s follow-up.
