Lawmakers hear how SNAP disruption and HR 1 changes hit Vermont farmers markets, grocers and food banks

Autumn Bowman, an advocate on federal nutrition policy, told the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee that changes in HR 1 and a recent federal funding lapse have immediate and downstream effects across Vermont’s food system. “This will cost the state $6.3 million in the first year and about $8.4 million annually thereafter,” she said, summarizing the Department for Children and Families’ estimate of increased administrative costs for the state.

Bowman said HR 1 shifts SNAP administrative cost‑sharing so that states will pay 75 percent of administration beginning Oct. 1, 2026, and warned the law also could require states to pay 5–15 percent of benefit costs depending on a state’s payment‑error rate. “To stay below the 6 percent error threshold, we need to invest in administration and benefits navigation,” Bowman told members. She said reporting and eligibility changes will impose new paperwork and affect thousands of Vermont households.

Local grocers and market managers described how those changes and the short federal lapse translated into lost…