(The Center Square) – Georgia lawmakers are trying to avoid paying millions of dollars in benefits for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed by Congress in 2025 would require states to pay for part of the program, commonly known as food stamps, if their error rate is not below 6% by the federal fiscal year 2028 budget, which begins in October 2027.
Georgia’s error rate is 15.65%, third highest in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state could be forced to pay between $162 million and $487 million a year, according to an analysis by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2027 fiscal year budget includes $18.2 million to help the Department of Family and Children’s Services reduce the payment error rate.
House Bill 947, known as the “Georgia SNAP Integrity Act of 2026,” would implement processes that would strengthen the application process and eligibility verification to help with the efforts to reduce the rate. The department will issue no certification periods of more than four months for households with no income, with an “able-bodied” adult with no dependents or “other households whose circumstances are determined by the department to be unstable unless otherwise prohibited under federal law for SNAP programs,” according to the bill. For households within 30 days of becoming ineligible for the program, the department would be limited to certification periods of one to two months.
The bill also sets new guidelines for verifying and approving expedited requests. If passed by the General Assembly, the Department of Family and Children’s Services has until Jan. 1, 2029, to make the changes.
“We’re out of time to pass this bill,” said Dallas Republican Martin Momtahan, the bill’s sponsor at Wednesday’s meeting of the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee. “We needed to pass this bill nine weeks ago. We’re out of time.”
The most significant challenges in reducing the error rate are the reporting of income by recipients and the periodic eligibility verification reports, said Candice Broce, commissioner for the Department of Family and Children Services, at a House committee meeting.
Overcoming the state’s error rate by the October 2027 deadline will be difficult to attain if they don’t get some flexibility in how to run the program, Broce told the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Meeting on Feb. 11. Automation of the federal program is desperately needed and that could reduce errors. The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not allow automation when determining eligibility for applications or renewals, Broce said.
“That’s not a knock on anybody but we’ve got to get with this century on how technology works and that’s what we’re begging for,” Broce said. “I totally understand the policy initiatives to make sure that states have some skin in the game but if you’re penalized for things you can’t control and then you’re also not allowed to have more control over things you could, it’s a little frustrating.”
The House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee recommended passage of House Bill 947. It is now in the House Rules Committee.
