Senate Moves To Increase Work, Education Requirements For SNAP Recipients

In its Monday afternoon meeting, the West Virginia Senate Workforce Committee discussed legislation that would expand work and training requirements for the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

SNAP provides monthly benefits to help eligible low-income households buy food. If passed into law, Senate Bill 249 would require that all able-bodied adults without dependents between the ages of 18 and 59 be assigned to employment and training programs by the Department of Human Services (DoHS).

Changes to West Virginia’s SNAP program have been a topic of legislation for many years in the state. 

Currently, there is a work requirement in place for West Virginia SNAP recipients between age 18 and 54. Senate Bill 249 would increase the upper age threshold by five years.

Jeremiah Samples is a registered lobbyist for the Opportunities Solution Project, a partner organization for the Foundation for Government Accountability. He also served as deputy secretary at the state’s now-reorganized Department of Health and Human Resources.

Samples was called to testify and told the committee that West Virginia’s December labor force participation rate was 54.8%, the lowest in the nation.

“Employment gives an individual community. We’re talking about giving people hope and an opportunity to better their lives,” Samples said. “In West Virginia, where you all know many of our statistics, we struggle with a lack of hope.”

Samples also said the committee’s chair, Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, had worked out problems some lawmakers had with a similar 2024 policy proposal. Senate Bill 562 had also aimed to change work and training requirements for SNAP recipients.

“The chairman really did work through a lot of the issues pertaining to vulnerable populations that may need an exemption,” Samples said. “If you have a dependent, if you have a child, you’re fully exempted from this requirement. If you have a disability, substance use disorder issue, if you take care of an adult or a child, even if it’s not your child, if you take care of that individual, you’re exempted.”

Samples told the committee it is not clear to him how many West Virginians would be affected by this change in work and training requirements for SNAP benefits. He thinks the DoHS should produce that number for lawmakers if this legislation becomes law.

“Last year, the initial estimate was 56,000 people would be impacted,” Samples said. “That then was subsequently reduced to 24,000 people impacted, then we got down to 2,269 individuals impacted, which basically took the number of folks that were age 53 or older, and subtracted the individuals that had children, that had dependents. Then in testimony last year, it was stated under 8,000. So just historically, and I was the deputy secretary at the DHHR from 2013 to 2022, the number between about 2,200 to 8,000 feels the most accurate to me.”

Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summers, asked Samples about the fiscal note on this session’s version of the legislation, Senate Bill 249. Samples said he and newly appointed DoHS Cabinet Secretary, Alex Mayer, have discussed the cost of this legislation and are working toward a solution.

“He said it was okay with him if I shared with you all that he wanted to make sure he worked with the legislature on this issue this year today,” Samples said. “The timing wasn’t perhaps conducive for them, but between now and whenever this bill might may come up in [the] Senate Finance [Committee], they wanted to sit down with the chairman and the Senate to make sure that they were working with the legislature on this issue.”

Committee members voted to pass the bill but referred it to the Finance Committee for further discussion of the fiscal note.