Senate committee to debate food stamp changes
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Lawmakers have agreed to take another crack at changing how often food stamps are released to needy Idahoans each month.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee agreed Thursday to debate a bill that would release benefits on as many as 10 different days each month as opposed to the current rules that peg the release to the first day of each month.
The House approved a similar bill last year, but the measure never made it out of the same Senate committee that agreed Wednesday to revisit the idea again in coming weeks.
The bill has the support of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the agency that administers the program. But it also has the backing of the Northwest Grocer's Association, whose members include some of the biggest grocery stores in the state.
Grocery executives like the idea of spreading food stamp release across several days, Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, the bill's sponsor, told the committee. The way things work now: Stores are flooded on the first day of each month by shoppers eligible for the benefits, a phenomenon that causes a run on certain goods, long lines at the check-out stand and supply-chain problems for store managers, she said.
Those logistical headaches have been exacerbated during the economic recession in Idaho as more residents have turned to the program to make ends meet. Last month, Health and Welfare reported more than 229,000 people were enrolled in the program, about 14.5 percent of the state's overall population.
The bill carries a startup cost of $683,000 and another $231,000 each year to operate. That price tag already raised concern among some Senators who suggested Thursday the money would be better spent on programs to educate food stamp recipients on health, nutrition and skills to stretch their food resources more evenly across the month.
"I think we need to help our people to be as healthy as they can, but also efficient," said Sen. Patty Ann Lodge, R-Huston.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee agreed Thursday to debate a bill that would release benefits on as many as 10 different days each month as opposed to the current rules that peg the release to the first day of each month.
The House approved a similar bill last year, but the measure never made it out of the same Senate committee that agreed Wednesday to revisit the idea again in coming weeks.
The bill has the support of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the agency that administers the program. But it also has the backing of the Northwest Grocer's Association, whose members include some of the biggest grocery stores in the state.
Grocery executives like the idea of spreading food stamp release across several days, Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, the bill's sponsor, told the committee. The way things work now: Stores are flooded on the first day of each month by shoppers eligible for the benefits, a phenomenon that causes a run on certain goods, long lines at the check-out stand and supply-chain problems for store managers, she said.
Those logistical headaches have been exacerbated during the economic recession in Idaho as more residents have turned to the program to make ends meet. Last month, Health and Welfare reported more than 229,000 people were enrolled in the program, about 14.5 percent of the state's overall population.
The bill carries a startup cost of $683,000 and another $231,000 each year to operate. That price tag already raised concern among some Senators who suggested Thursday the money would be better spent on programs to educate food stamp recipients on health, nutrition and skills to stretch their food resources more evenly across the month.
"I think we need to help our people to be as healthy as they can, but also efficient," said Sen. Patty Ann Lodge, R-Huston.
I don't think we need to spend any more money on the food stamp and bennifits program. I also think that educating recpeints of the program on better budgeting and nutrition is a waste of time for the majority of them. While some use them responsibly most do not. Not only do the give their kids it to buy junk food and enery drinks, they themselves abuse it simply by allowing their children and other friends and relatives to use them. Educating the ones who want to better their situations is good but thinking that genral educating is going to effect the abusers and the ones who willing particapate in these programs as a way of getting things for free stuff won't aid the state or the taxpayers who fund this program. I belive in helping those who need help and that no one should go hungry, but I also belive that giving people free aid only allows them to figure out ways to do nothing in return for something. I think restricting the types of foods they can recieve would be more effective. After all it cost some one including us for their supposedly free stuff.