(The Center Square) – Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, introduced two bills that attempt to reform the state-managed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The first bill Kavanagh introduced, Senate Bill 1331, seeks to add a work requirement for receiving federal food stamps. The rule would apply to people under 60 who can work.
People capable of working but who won’t work shouldn’t have “their food paid for by people who work,” Kavanagh told The Center Square this week.
Kavanagh said he doesn’t mind helping people who are not able to work. He added that his bill has many exceptions for people who fit this criteria.
SB 1331 provides exemptions for people who meet federal work registration rules through Social Security or a federal-state unemployment system. Caregivers who care for a child under 6 or an incapacitated person would also be exempt from this bill.
Students, substance abuse treatment participants and people working more than 30 hours would be exempt as well.
The second bill, SB 1333, attempts to reduce Arizona’s SNAP payment error rate.
In July 2025, Congress passed H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which changed how states administer the SNAP program. H.R. 1 adjusted federal rules to say any state that has a SNAP payment error rate above 6% will have to enter a cost-sharing program with the federal government.
States have until the fiscal year 2027-2028 to get their payment error rate below 6%.
If Arizona doesn’t bring its SNAP payment error rate down, it will cost the state a “fortune” due to administrative costs, Kavanagh stated.
Glenn Farley, the Common Sense Institute Arizona’s director of policy and research, previously told The Center Square that if Arizona doesn’t get its payment error rate under control, the state could end up paying between $150 million and $200 million from its general fund in fiscal year 2028.
He added that Arizona’s payment error rate was around 10%.
The goal of SB 1333 is to have Arizona’s SNAP error rate below 3% by 2030. Kavanagh stated this goal is doable, saying the “timeframe is generous.”
To lower the error rate, Arizona will need to review its record-collection systems and verify the accuracy of the information in those systems to ensure the state isn’t overpaying people, he said.
According to Kavanagh, these two bills are meant to help Arizona avoid the penalties that would apply if it doesn’t comply with federal changes to SNAP in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Kavanagh told The Center Square he was unsure whether Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs would sign both bills. Republicans hold majorities in both the Arizona Senate and House, but lack enough seats to override vetoes.
In addition to these two bills, other Republican state senators are also seeking to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in Arizona.
Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Tucson, introduced SB 1036, which tightens unemployment benefit rules by mandating weekly job-search activities, requiring reporting and implementing extensive fraud checks using state and federal databases.
Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, introduced SB 1308, which creates a Foreign Adversary Fraud Office in the state attorney general’s office.
The new office will pursue consumer fraud involving foreign adversary technology and safeguard critical infrastructure.
