Oversight subcommittee says Michigan's SNAP payment error rate risks federal penalties; committee adopts report and pitches card and verification reforms

The Oversight Subcommittee on state and local public assistance programs adopted a report after a nine-month investigation that found Michigan's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) had a 9.53% payment error rate and that about 1,400,000 residents receive food assistance.

Chair Wolford said taxpayers paid $3,230,000,000 in SNAP benefits last year and warned that Michigan's error rate—"stuck above the 9.5%" threshold—could trigger a minimum $320,000,000 federal penalty and a shift in administrative cost-sharing from 50% to 70%. "Bottom line, taxpayers are done paying for waste, fraud, and abuse," Wolford said.

Wolford described three bills introduced by Republicans during the session, as recorded in the committee hearing: "House bill 51 45," intended to end self-attestation and require proof up front; "House bill 45 15," to add photos and signatures to bridge cards; and "House bill 47 46," to convert bridge cards to secure chip technology by October 2026. The chair also said the committee will pursue monthly error-rate reporting and a ban on out-of-state bridge-card use.

Representative Cara pushed back on the committee's characterization of the online portal and on the connection between the payment error rate and fraud investigations. Cara said applications can be initiated online but maintained that federally required verification steps ' including automated federal/state data matches and identity verification tools ' must be completed before benefits are approved. "So they do go through the federally required verification steps," Cara said. She asked whether the payment error rate should be read as a measure of fraud; Chair Wolford responded, "Oh, part of it does measure fraud, 100%. We had people that were before the committee on that." The transcript records this exchange as a point of disagreement between members about what the payment error rate measures.

Representative Karam noted the committee's analysis that the 9.53% inaccuracy rate reflects roughly 8% overpayments and about 1.5% underpayments. Another member reviewing historical figures said the error rate had been about 13.97% in fiscal year 2020, about 13% in FY22 and 9.53% in FY24, showing improvement but not enough to avoid the federal penalty.

At the meeting's conclusion, Representative Brock moved to adopt the report; the clerk called the roll and the motion passed with a recorded tally of 3 yay, 1 nay and 1 pass. The committee asked the department for monthly updates on implementation of chip-enabled cards and other corrective actions.

The chair closed by reiterating the subcommittee's oversight role: the program exists to help children, seniors and people with disabilities in times of need, but the panel said it will continue to demand transparency and reforms to protect program integrity.

Next steps: the committee adopted the report and requested ongoing monthly updates from the administering department; no formal votes on the three bills were recorded during this meeting.