House Human Services signals preliminary support for food bank, SNAP outreach amid federal match cuts

Unidentified Speaker 1 convened the House Human Services committee and framed the day's work as finalizing budget recommendations to Appropriations for Human Services programs, with a particular focus on food and shelter programs amid federal changes that will affect SNAP administration.

The committee gave an initial show-of-hands indication to support a $2,000,000 allocation to the Vermont Food Bank to help local food shelves and pantries restock shelf-stable and nutritious foods. Unidentified Speaker 1 said the total food package request was $5,000,000 across multiple committees and that $2,000,000 would come from this committee; members agreed to finalize funding sources and the formal vote on Tuesday.

Hunger Free Vermont executive director Anur Horton testified about outreach for 3Squares Vermont (SNAP). Horton described how outreach has been funded historically — a mix of federal administrative funds and nonfederal match from state or nonprofit sources — and warned the federal share for SNAP administration will fall sharply. "All of that funding... [is] going from 50% of the whole cost to 25% of the whole cost," Horton said, adding that nonprofits and the state will face a large new gap to maintain outreach and application assistance.

Committee members described the outreach reduction as consequential for people who face paperwork barriers or new eligibility rules. Unidentified Speaker 2 and others said that if community outreach is cut back, people are more likely to lose benefits or fail to enroll, increasing demand on local food programs. Unidentified Speaker 2 summarized the gap calculation for one outreach line as requiring approximately $312,306 in private fundraising just to maintain current outreach levels.

Members also discussed a proposed one-time funding stream for benefit assisters — people and organizations that help Vermonters navigate benefit changes — and a possible source: a $50,000,000 set-aside the legislature created for federal-impact costs. The committee indicated preliminary support for pursuing benefit-assister funding from that set-aside but deferred a formal decision to Tuesday.

Unidentified Speaker 1 said the committee would work to put precise language in the budget memo and asked members to submit proposed language as the committee prepares to vote. The committee closed by scheduling follow-up drafting and a final vote on the recommendations for Tuesday.