Senators are advancing a bill that would expand requirements for work or employment training for able-bodied adults without dependents for benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Right now, the education and training programs are voluntary for SNAP in West Virginia.
One question that will follow the bill through the legislative process is whether the cost to implement the requirements exceeds the intended result — particularly as state government works through a budget gap estimated to be $400 million.
Senator Rollan Roberts, chairman of the workforce committee, said his intent is to nudge able-bodied people into workforce participation.
West Virginia for years has had the lowest or near-lowest workforce participation rate in the nation. As of December 2024, West Virginia’s labor force participation rate was 54.8 percent.
Roberts, R-Raleigh, said Senate Bill 249 would provide resources to some people eligible for SNAP “to get education, get training, to become a volunteer to be able to get them into the community and involved.”
Overall, Roberts said, “There is compassion. There is a resource to it that will help them be able to get involved in the community with volunteering or working or doing some sort of education and training. So it’s something to give an encouragement, an incentive, to get people involved and — well, basically — get them off the couch.”
The Senate Workforce Committee discussed and advanced the bill on Monday afternoon. It goes on to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration.
The bill expands mandatory work and training requirements necessary to receive SNAP benefits. The requirements would apply to able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 59 and who don’t have dependents. It also wouldn’t apply to students, people participating in drug or alcohol addiction programs or people working at least 30 hours a week.
The Senate passed a very similar bill last year, but it didn’t make it through the House of Delegates.
“What happened last year was, when we passed it out of the Senate, we were told that the fiscal note was negligible and could be absorbed,” Roberts said. “Then when it got over at the end of the session, into the House, it somehow came up with a fiscal note of $7 million. So that’s what ended the bill last year.”
A cost estimate prepared by the Department of Human Services suggests implementation could be expensive. The Department estimates the cost as $5,461,227 (with $2,730,613 coming from the state) the first year and $3,471,227 ($1,735,613 from the state state) upon full implementation.
Much of the estimated cost of system upgrades to operate mandatory education and training programs. Additional expense would be a federally-required mass mailing to notify people affected.
The agency also estimates it would need a worker in each county, sometimes two, to handle the new eligibility functions — with personnel costs adding up to about $3,356,227.
Release of the federal share of funding would be contingent upon approval of the state’s education and training plan by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A memorandum in the cost estimate submitted by the Department of Human Services raises a series of questions about whether the bill is workable, especially as it interacts with federal requirements.
The bill does provide some options for the state agency when there is a lack of funding or inability to provide employment and training — mostly to report back and say why.
That directive to communicate about the challenges and possibilities of implementation prompted Roberts to say, “I feel much better about what the future holds.”
Jeremiah Samples, a former legislative analyst who is now working as a lobbyist for Opportunity Solutions Project, which is a conservative think tank working to shape laws at the state and local level. He testified before the Senate Workforce Committee.
“Work gives individuals dignity. Employment gives an individual community. We’re talking about giving people hope and an opportunity to better their lives,” Samples told senators. “In West Virginia, we struggle with a lack of hope.”
Samples cited West Virginia’s historically low labor force participation rate.
“The bottom line is that West Virginia is caught in a vicious cycle where individuals in communities do not have the resources provided to them to get into the workforce nor the expectation. A mandatory SNAP (education and training) program lays out an expectation but it also provides individuals with resources.”
Mountaineer Food Bank, the largest emergency food provider in the state, has concerns about the mandatory policy proposal.
“We’re against it because it increases the need on our charitable food network that is already stressed,” said Caitlin Cook, director of advocacy and public policy for Mountaineer Food Bank.
She said the organization encourages robust, quality workforce training. She said the SNAP education and training programs ideally increase people’s chances of long-term employment and earning capacity so that they would no longer need to be on benefits or the support of the food bank.
Mountaineer Food Bank maintains that it would be ideal if the state wanted to explore options to expand non-mandatory education and training requirements. Cook suggested forcing more people into the program would dilute resources.
“If you look across the country with states that have mandatory work programs, they are struggling to meet those intended high-quality, high-earning job placements because you’ve got the same amount of money and you’ve expanded the pool,” Cook said.