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Senate passes bill forcing state to comply with federal SNAP/HHS data requests after debate over privacy and costs
Summary
The Kansas Senate advanced and passed a Senate substitute for House Bill 2004 requiring state child‑and‑health agencies to provide certain SNAP- and health-related data to federal agencies within 30 days. Debate centered on privacy safeguards, an estimated contractor cost of $50,000–$300,000, and a cited $10.4 million quarterly penalty for noncompliance; the final vote was 28–9.
The Kansas Senate passed a Senate substitute for House Bill 2004 on Feb. 16, 2026, requiring the secretary for children and families and the secretary of health and environment to provide specified data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon written request and to formalize that sharing via a memorandum of understanding, data‑use agreement or similar instrument.
Senator Erickson (Senator from Sedgwick), who explained the bill in committee, said the legislation would require ‘‘both secretaries to fully respond to the respective federal agencies in a timely manner by executing a memorandum of understanding, data use agreement, or other form of written data sharing instrument as necessary to provide the information requested’’ and that ‘‘such data would be required to be shared with the respective federal agency within 30 days of the secretary receiving a written request.’’
Supporters argued the bill is a technical compliance measure and a tool to prevent improper benefit payments. Erickson cited U.S. Department of Agriculture…
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