by Bailey Ashbaker, Senior Policy Analyst and Engagement Specialist
State Updates
The deadline for Governor Stitt to act on bills sent to him during Special Session was June 1. The Governor signed 344 bills and joint resolutions into law and allowed 15 other regular session measures to take effect without his signature. Additionally, the Oklahoma House of Representatives has set June 30, 2023 as the deadline to request interim studies and July 28, 2023 for the Speaker to approve or deny those studies and assign approved studies to a committee. The deadline to request studies in the Senate was June 21, 2023, and the deadline for their approval or denial is June 30, 2023.
Child Nutrition
Summer is here! Our programs team has been hard at work recording and mapping active 2023 summer meal sites across Oklahoma. Visit meals4kidsok.org to find a summer meal site near you!
2023 Summer EBT is also set to be dispersed beginning in July. For more information on Summer EBT, visit our updated P-EBT FAQs page.
Federal Updates
On Saturday, June 6, the President signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law, bringing an end to intense negotiations over the debt ceiling and avoiding national default on the debt. Disappointingly, this deal came with provisions to expand work requirements for SNAP, further limiting low-income households’ access to food assistance. Below is an overview of who will be subject to these expanded work requirements and how they will impact SNAP participants.
- Previously, able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) between the ages of 18-49 were subject to a time limit on receiving SNAP benefits unless they met certain work requirements. The debt ceiling expanded this time limit to include adults ages 50-54.
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that nationally approximately 750,000 adults will be at risk of losing SNAP due to this new policy.
- However, the deal expanded exemptions from these time limits to veterans, young adults between the ages of 18-24 aging out of the foster care system, and those experiencing homelessness. The Congressional Budget Office estimates these exemptions will allow an additional 78,000 people to access SNAP.
- However, guidance to screen for these exemptions is still unclear, and there is a high likelihood that even those eligible for exemptions may inadvertently lose their benefits.
- The legislation also lowered states’ max allowances for SNAP hardship exemptions from 15% of participants subject to work requirements to 8%, and no longer allows states to carry over unused exemptions for the following year.
Hunger Free Oklahoma will continue work to reduce barriers to SNAP and promote policies to maximize the program’s efficacy in reducing hunger. The next chance to protect and expand SNAP will come in the 2023 Farm Bill negotiations, so stay tuned for more on what Farm Bill provisions we’ll be advocating for.
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