Oregon officials tell legislature HR 1 will cut SNAP benefits for thousands, raise state costs and strain staff

Mayora Salar, who manages Oregon’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, told a House committee on Sept. 29 that federal House Resolution 1 (HR 1) will reduce benefits for many Oregonians and require substantial new administrative work by state staff.

Salar said Oregon has about 750,000 SNAP participants in roughly 450,000 households and that program changes in HR 1 will affect benefit amounts, who must meet work rules and how adjacent programs are funded. “HR 1 requires that fifth‑year adjustment to be cost neutral,” she said, adding that over time that will reduce the purchasing power of SNAP benefits.

The presentation laid out four principal impacts: some individuals and families will receive fewer or no benefits and face additional tracking; eligibility workers will need to do much more verification and work‑tracking; the federal/state cost structure for administering the program will shift; and Oregon’s food economy — retailers, farmers and food workers — will see less SNAP purchasing power.

Salar and Nate Singer, director of the Oregon Eligibility Partnership at the Department of Human Services, gave specific numbers: in March 2025 Oregon recorded about $183 in SNAP benefits per person per month, more than 210,000 child recipients and about 130,000 people age 65 or older on SNAP. Salar estimated that restricting the “heat‑and‑eat” utility deduction to households with someone age 60+ or with a disability will reduce benefits for roughly 27,000 households, amounting to about $58 per household per month on average.

Singer described two state‑facing cost shifts in HR 1. Beginning Oct. 1, 2026 the federal match for administrative costs changes so states must cover a larger share; and for benefit costs the law ties potential state liability to a state’s SNAP payment error rate, with possible state cost shares rising to as much as 15% for higher error‑rate tiers for the 10/01/2027 period. Singer said Oregon issues about $3.4 billion in SNAP benefits biannually and warned that even modest cost shares could translate into high state budget exposure.

Both agency speakers emphasized implementation timing and uncertainty: agencies began receiving Food and Nutrition Service guidance only at the end of August; Oregon intends to implement HR 1 procedures as of Oct. 1 and to send timely notices so reductions would be effective Nov. 1. They urged rapid outreach to community hunger partners and warned that food banks may see increased demand.

Committee members pressed officials on tradeoffs between administrative costs and program savings, staffing capacity and how work‑verification will affect churn in caseloads. Singer and Salar said some attrition is likely where work requirements increase reporting burdens, that many causes of payment errors are outside agency control, and that the state is pursuing system upgrades, training and targeted case reviews to limit error‑rate exposure.

The presentation also highlighted programmatic losses beyond direct benefits: Salar said HR 1 ends funding for SNAP Nutrition Education (SNAP Ed) that in Oregon had supported Oregon State University Extension programs and staff and provides community food‑education services.

What happens next: agencies said they will follow up with more detailed charts and historical payment‑error data for the committee, and legislators indicated they expect short‑session budget and policy questions related to staffing, IT investments and potential state funding to mitigate federal cost shifts.