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Alabama panel urges federal delay and regulatory fixes as SNAP payment‑error cost share looms
Summary
State officials and agency leaders told a legislative committee the payment‑error cost‑share could force cuts or reductions to SNAP benefits and urged Congress and USDA to grant a two‑year waiver, narrow counted errors to agency mistakes, and allow regulatory fixes to curb fraud and protect recipients.
Dr. Thrasher told a legislative subcommittee that changes tied to the SNAP payment‑error cost‑share pose an immediate risk to Alabama families and the state economy, urging lawmakers to seek a two‑year federal reprieve and targeted regulatory fixes.
“The stakes are real,” Dr. Thrasher said. “If we fail, there’s going to be dire consequences. People will die.” He and Commissioner Nancy Buckner framed proposals designed to reduce states’ exposure under the federal penalty formula: ask USDA for two years of relief (so states can use two different fiscal years for the error calculation), ensure quality‑control reviews consider only information available at certification, and count only agency errors for payment‑error cost‑share purposes.
Buckner emphasized that high payment‑error rates are not synonymous with widespread fraud. “Error rates does not equate to fraud,” she said, adding that most errors are eligibility or reporting mistakes rather than intentional misuse. She and agency staff described how large system changes must be phased so county workers and case processors can implement new verifications without creating additional administrative errors.
Panel members also urged immediate regulatory steps at the federal level: limit how many authorized representatives a single individual may serve, require or encourage retailers to check identification in suspicious situations, require retailers to report suspected misuse, and move toward chip/contactless technology to reduce skimming and cloning. Several legislators and agency officials said bringing proposals as amendments to the pending farm bill would be the most expedient path to statutory change, while some measures could be pursued by USDA rulemaking.
Officials warned that absent federal guidance the state currently has three limited options: pay any cost share owed, reduce program eligibility to drive error rates below the penalty threshold, or establish a state account to fund the nightly federal drawdown that recoups the state’s cost share. Agency staff said federal guidance on implementation had not yet been issued, making planning and budgeting difficult.
The committee agreed to compile the session’s recommendations into a report for Alabama’s congressional delegation and the legislative leadership and to press for a two‑year waiver while developing state mitigation measures.
The panel did not take formal votes during the hearing. The committee’s next procedural step is preparing and submitting a written report for the Speaker and the legislature that will summarize the requested federal actions and possible state options.
