By Chris Bernard, President & CEO
New USDA data confirms that Oklahoma, along with 35 other states, could soon face massive new SNAP costs, putting food assistance at risk for families already struggling to afford groceries. Congress must act now to delay this cost shift for all states.
Beginning October 1, 2027, most states will be required to pay a share of SNAP benefit costs based on their SNAP payment error rates. Yet the newly released 2025 data largely reflects mistakes made before H.R. 1 became law, giving states little meaningful opportunity to improve performance before being penalized.
While H.R. 1 allows states to use either their FY 2025 or FY 2026 payment error rate, that flexibility is largely an illusion. FY 2026 error rates will not be released until June 2027, after most state legislatures, including Oklahoma’s, have adjourned and finalized their budgets. As a result, states will be required to prepare for significant new SNAP costs without knowing which error rate will apply. Adjusting state budgets after the final data is available will require costly special legislative sessions, wasting taxpayer funds because of a poorly designed law.
The unfairness is even more striking because states with the highest error rates were granted additional time before the cost shift takes effect, while states like Oklahoma face penalties almost immediately based on data from before the law was enacted.
“With financial penalties looming, states are already making it harder for eligible families to access SNAP, and the consequences are clear,” said Chris Bernard, President and CEO of Hunger Free Oklahoma. “SNAP participation in Oklahoma has fallen by more than 14%, meaning nearly 100,000 Oklahomans have lost food assistance. This decline is not the result of families becoming more financially secure. Congress changed the rules, and participation dropped. The need did not disappear; access to benefits did.”
A nationwide hunger crisis is already unfolding as millions of people lose help affording groceries. These new state cost requirements will only accelerate that harm. Congress created this timeline, and Congress must fix it by delaying the SNAP cost shift for all states and providing a fair opportunity to improve performance before imposing costly penalties that will ultimately be borne by struggling families.