After an hour-long debate on the Kentucky House floor, lawmakers advanced a bill that is aimed at upping workforce participation but which some worry will cause food insecurity. 

House Bill 367 would give the General Assembly power over decisions about work requirements for Kentucky’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP. 

It passed 61-33 and can proceed to the Senate side for consideration. 

The bill would also restore the federal asset test, ending the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ ability to waive asset limits through the Broad Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE). This would exclude households that have savings worth $2,750 as long as there are no disabled or elderly people in the household. This number increases to $4,250 for seniors and people with disabilities.

HB367 would also remove the CHFS ability to waive work requirements for SNAP eligibility, giving that power to the General Assembly. 

A key worry for some Democrats who spoke against it Thursday is that the bill reduces the gross income threshold for SNAP-eligible Kentuckians to 130% of the federal poverty level. 

Anti-hunger advocates testified when the bill was heard in committee that the bill would hurt farmers’ livelihoods and burden food pantries that may have to pick up extra capacity. 

Other opponents have said it will have a negative impact on school lunch availability. Schools can qualify for a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows them to serve free food and is based on the community’s poverty levels and participation in other programs, like SNAP. 

Sponsor Rep. Wade Williams, R-Earlington, called Kentucky’s economy “red hot” and cited the roughly 112,000 job openings in the state as of November, down from 118,000 in October. 

“Every time I speak to my business community back home,” Williams said, “they tell me they cannot find workers who want to work.”

The floor opposition

Rep. Sarah Stalker, a Louisville Democrat, said she’s been on SNAP in the past and “it’s not an easy process to navigate.” 

“It’s quite demoralizing for so many people because of the way we stigmatize people in poverty,” Stalker said. “How poor do you have to be in Kentucky to be worthy of food? That is the question of the day.”

Fellow Louisville Democrat Lisa Willner said she believes “when we hear ‘able bodied adults with zero dependents,’ we have this idea that there are huge numbers of Kentuckians lying around just refusing to go to work and that is simply not the case.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture  says that more than half of American households that live with food insecurity have at least one person working full time. 

Citing the savings cap, Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, said “We want our general assembly to build up a healthy budget reserve fund, but we’re literally going to prohibit families from doing the same thing.” 

Williams, the sponsor, reiterated on the floor that “it is not the bill’s intent to eliminate SNAP. It’s an important safety net and we want to keep it.” 

He later said his goal with the bill is to “make sure that everyone that’s on SNAP should be on SNAP.”