Secretaries' Innovation Group

Conference Materials: Food Stamps

**To view power point presentations and supporting materials, click on * bold, underlined title.

Post-election Food Stamp Legislative and Administrative Reform - December 2024
​* A Reform Framework for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
   Thomas O'Rourke, American Enterprise Institute

  • In the original authorization of the Food Stamp Program, Congress stated, “It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, in order to promote the general welfare, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s population by raising levels of nutrition among low-income households.” Today, SNAP needs substantial reform to realize this goal. As caseloads and expenditures have grown, SNAP has become increasingly disconnected from the core goal of reducing food insecurity and improving nutrition, failing to reverse downward trends in work and other various measures of health and well-being. The AEI report offers specific SNAP reforms that maximize the program’s strengths while addressing certain weaknesses that limit its effectiveness. 
  • The AEI report focuses on five areas in SNAP that particularly need reforming: (1) program administration, (2) eligibility and benefit levels, (3) employment and poverty reduction, (4) nutrition improvement, and (5) program integrity. The recommendations were compiled by AEI supported conservatives policy makers over the course of a year. Not all authors needed to agree with each recommendation before this report was published on October 29th. SIG secretaries and workforce directors at this session will review or modify these recommendations for use in their own state. Depending upon election results some or all of these recommendations may become law.

   

Early considerations regarding a possible experimental work-only system of benefits in  Columbus, Ohio - December 2024
* SNAP Work Status  and Exemptions Dashboard
   Matt Damschroder, Director, OH Jobs and Family Services

  • At our SIG meeting in July, a presentation of a 1990s work-only system implemented in Wisconsin showed very favorable employment and other outcomes. Aspects of it are now under consideration by Director Matt Damschroder of Ohio who may offer his comments.


Food Stamps and New Rules - What Next on Implementation - December 2019

* Family First Prevention Services De-funding Act
   Brent Newman, President, Accuity Inc.

  • USDA may have issued its final ABAWD rule by the time we meet and it is possible that all states will have to plan for enrollment. Other FNS rules are pending or being contemplated and this is the final opportunity for new rules to be generated, or those in process to be modified so as to take effect before the end of the administration. We will discuss all matters Food Stamps with the new FNS chief of staff, Anne DeCesaro, a SIG friend and colleague formerly with the Ways and Means committee, along with Jennifer Tiller of the House nutrition subcommittee.


Food Stamps - June 2018

* Upward Mobility / Food Stamps
   Jason Turner, Executive Director, Secretaries’ Innovation Group

  • This is our time for SIG members to press for adoption of House HR-2 which incorporates many of the changes to Food Stamps we have been seeking since 2014.   The bill adds funding for work, requires states to operate a work program for both singles and parents, makes changes to categorical eligibility, and increases the amount of fraud-recovered funds going back to states.  We will use this session to discuss and agree upon a plan of action, and to prepare for our meeting with FNS below.  


Food Stamp Eligibility, Fraud, and SIG Priorities - December 2017 

* SIG SNAP Recommendations
   Secretaries' Innovation Group

  • As we prepare for our meeting with House and Senate members, and separately for our FNS roundtable later in the day below, we should take the opportunity to review our SIG recommendations on Food Stamp eligibility and fraud.      


Food Stamp Reform - July 2017

* Food Stamps
   Jason Turner, Executive Director, Secretaries' Innovation Group​

  • In this session we SIG secretaries will discuss reforms we wish to propose to Agriculture Secretary Perdue when we meet with USDA chief of staff and newly appointed FNS officials on Wednesday.  Among the extensive discussions SIG members have had over the years related to Food Stamps, most prominent is the explosion in the caseload over the past twelve years and the absence of work requirements, unlike TANF. 


​Food Stamps and Other Programs- November 2015

* Food Stamps are Growing Too Fast and Without Accompanying Work Requirements
   Jason Turner, Executive Director, Secretaries' Innovation Group
* SIG Reforming Food Stamps (SNAP) Policy Paper 
* SIG Food Stamp Policy Ideas: November 2015
* SIG Food Stamp Recommendations: November 2014​
* SNAP Households' Eligibility Questionable Under BBCE
   USDA Office of Inspector General: FNS Quality Control Process for SNAP Error Rate, September 2015
* Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: A Look at the First Year of Review
   Congressman K. Michael Conaway, Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture

  • Most ABWOD waivers end December 31 unless renewed.  State secretaries discuss plans for transition to regular program, opportunities plus operational and political considerations.   How states are teaming up with Workforce agencies to provide program capacity.  
  • Photos on EBT cards, investigating retailer fraud;  making retail data available to states; everything fraud-related.  Director Jesse Panuccio FL and Jane Johnson FL discuss likely transition of UI fraud system to FS.


Food Stamps - June 2015

* Fixing SNAP: How States Can and Should Stand Up to the Feds
   Mary Mayhew, Commissioner, Maine Department of Health and Human Services
* SIG Food Stamp Recommendations

  • Moving the SIG Statement on Food Stamp problems and recommended solutions to the next level.  Progress on purchase data available to states; photos and verification; investigating retailer fraud; other issues. Reports from Members; reactions and interactions with FNS. 


November 2014

* Food Stamp Quick Facts and Reform
   Mary Mayhew, Commissioner, Maine Department of Health and Human Services

  • The Good Fight - - Maine battles FNS over implementation of FS fraud initiatives


April 2014
* SNAP Pilot Projects April 2014

FS Work Demo Operations - August 2013

* Measuring the Cost Effects of SNAP Demonstrations: Possible Methodologies
   Douglas Besharov, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland; and Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council

  • Technical aspects of implementation: Managing the counterfactual provision