Committee hears HB 9 47, a broad package to tighten SNAP verification and curb fraud

Representative Monaghan presented a committee substitute (LC461433) for HB 9 47 at a House ad committee hearing on Day 17, describing a multi-part bill intended to modernize Georgia’s administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), strengthen program integrity and align state practice with federal law.

Monaghan said the bill "does three big things": modernize eligibility and verification, strengthen program integrity and accountability, and improve fraud deterrence and EBT card security. The substitute would require shorter certification periods for high-risk households (proposing certification limits such as four months for 0-net-income households), impose a 30-day verification window for expedited cases, and expand continuous data matching with federal and state sources including the Department of Public Health, Department of Labor, corrections data, Social Security and the Georgia Lottery Corporation.

The bill would also require Georgia-issued EBT cards to include chip technology and to display participants’ full legal names, add printed SNAP fraud hotline/reporting instructions on cards, and authorize retailer point-of-sale controls to block purchases of prepared or mixed beverages with SNAP benefits. Monaghan noted the measure would bar the Department from seeking waivers of federal work requirements without specific General Assembly authorization.

Candace Bros, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services, testified to operational realities, saying Georgia already serves about "a little over 1,400,000 people" on SNAP and that the average monthly benefit is about "$393." Bros described Georgia’s payment error-rate calculation method and said a recent calculated rate was around 15.5 percent. She warned the state could face substantial fiscal consequences if error rates remain high and said technological upgrades and governance changes will be necessary to meet the new verification and data-matching requirements.

Committee members focused questions on practical impacts: whether recipients who were underpaid are restored (DHS said entitlement protections exist and recoupment processes apply for overpayments), the administrative and retailer cost of implementing expanded data matching and point-of-sale controls (DHS said cost estimates are still being developed), whether carve-outs are possible for elderly or disabled SSI recipients to buy prepared meals (sponsor and DHS said federal law restricts hot prepared food purchases and state law cannot override federal statute), and how automation might be implemented given longstanding federal limits on fully automating SNAP eligibility decisions.

Members expressed concern about rural access, food deserts and whether tighter rules might limit purchase options for vulnerable households; the sponsor said the bill also aims to increase use of SNAP at farmers markets and to keep SNAP dollars in Georgia. The hearing concluded without a committee vote; the transcript records that DHS may be invited back for further questions at a subsequent meeting.