State panel approves SNAP rule changes that raise ABAWD age and remove several federal exceptions
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
A legislative rules committee reviewed and approved Department of Human Services rules implementing recent federal SNAP changes, including raising the able-bodied-adults-without-dependents work requirement age and removing several exceptions; the rules were presented as required to align state policy with federal law.
Mary Franklin, director of the Division of County Operations at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, told the committee the permanent rule implements changes in the federal law enacted this year and previously issued as an emergency rule. "Previously, the individuals that were subject to this work requirement were 18 to 54 and now that age limit is raised to age 64," Franklin said, describing the change to the able-bodied-adults-without-dependents (ABAWD) work requirement.
Franklin said the rule also aligns language with federal definitions and explained other changes adopted under the federal statutory package. She said the department will count certain energy assistance payments as unearned income except where the household contains an aged or disabled member. Franklin also enumerated that several exceptions removed by federal law — for homeless individuals, for veterans, and for individuals age 24 or younger and those in foster care on their 18th birthday — are removed from the state rule because the federal law eliminated them.
Representative Rose asked for clarification on apparent discrepancies in the packet about ages; Franklin explained there are two distinct SNAP work standards and that the main statutory change in this rule concerns the ABAWD standard (the age rise to 64). "There are 2 different work requirements involved in SNAP," Franklin said, noting that general SNAP work requirements remain distinct from the three-month ABAWD time limit.
Committee members asked whether the change addresses recent news items about allowable purchases under SNAP; the department confirmed the rule as presented does not change allowable purchase rules (for example about sugary snacks) and that those are separate matters. After questions, the committee reviewed and approved the DHS rule without objection.
What happens next: the rule will be filed as the committee approved it; DHS said it is providing optional guidance materials (including a potential verification form) but will not require a standardized medical-exemption form at this time.