DHS budget hearing: SNAP cost shift, YMCA grants, summer food and data governance among top requests
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Summary
Commissioner Clarence H. Carter told the Senate Health Committee that HR1’s federal changes will shift SNAP administrative costs onto the state ($58,333,700 for a nine-month period) and outlined requests including YMCA grants, summer food assistance, an $8M data governance contract, and administrative reductions.
The Senate Health Committee heard the Tennessee Department of Human Services budget presentation from Commissioner Clarence H. Carter, who outlined several budget requests tied to federal policy changes and program priorities.
On SNAP, Carter said the federal HR1 changes shift the administrative cost split from 50/50 to 75/25 (state/federal) and estimated that for the nine-month federal fiscal year the state share would be "$58,333,700". He asked the legislature to cover that administrative cost shift. Carter also requested statutory salary step raises (a state share of $179,700 matched with $348,800 federal, totaling $529,000), a recurring $15,000,000 grant to the statewide YMCA alliance, and a recurring $250,000 grant to the YMCA Community Action Project.
Supplemental requests included $3,000,000 to continue summer food payments in underserved counties, $5,000,000 for summer food assistance to support sponsors’ non-reimbursable costs, and $8,000,000 for a data governance contract to reduce the SNAP error rate and potential state liability under HR1. Carter described administrative savings proposals (for example $2,333,500 by postage and envelope-size changes and $3,000,000 in call-center vendor savings).
Committee members questioned operational details, including retailer point-of-sale changes to implement the healthy-SNAP waiver (which will exclude sugary foods and drinks from EBT purchases starting in July) and how YMCA grant funds would be used to expand childcare slots. DHS staff said the healthy-SNAP waiver will require retailers to update point-of-sale systems and that TennCare or USDA FNS will handle monitoring; DHS said it would provide more details on YMCA spending and childcare slots as invoices and capital projects progress.
On ARPA-funded childcare and the YMCA contract, members asked why large ARPA balances appeared unspent; DHS said work on capital projects and procurement delays slowed initial outlays but that projects are now breaking ground and invoices are being submitted. On TANF Opportunity pilots, DHS said the programs were rigorously evaluated and a third-party report will be available later this year.
After discussion, the committee voted to send the DHS budget to finance, 8 ayes and 1 no.
