Date: February 12, 2025
To: Representative Don Mayhew and the Members of the House Corrections and Public Institutions Committee
From: Christine Woody, Food Security Policy Manager, Empower Missouri
Re: HB 916
My name is Christine Woody and I am the Food Policy Manager at Empower Missouri. Empower Missouri has spent more than 120 years fighting poverty in Missouri. Today, I am asking for your support of HB 916 which provides support to some of our neighbors with the lowest incomes.
I have been with Empower Missouri since 2009. And the issue of the lifetime ban on SNAP for those with a drug related felony is an issue that we have worked on since before I started. For years and years we have been advocating for Missouri to completely opt out of this optional federal SNAP provision.
10 years ago in 2014, I thought we had done it!
A bill was sponsored by then State Representative Paul Wieland and State Senator Kiki Curls.
At the time, because of compromises made to get the bill passed, the bill ended up not completely opting out of the ban, but modifying it instead.
At the time, even with the compromises and the modifications that were made, we thought it was a win! We celebrated.
And then, just a few years ago, after believing our work was truly helping those it was intended to help, I was informed by an attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri who works with these individuals that they have rarely had a client who has a drug felony on their record qualify for SNAP because of all of the difficult modifications and stipulations with in the current law.
So I looked into current law more closely.
The current law is complicated, and it is nearly impossible to navigate for SNAP applicants and makes the application process more complicated for the DSS workers who are processing it, even when there is an attorney who is an expert in law and specifically public benefits law helping out.
The current law is a prime example of red tape and bureaucracy that is not helping anyone.
But it is an easy fix and we can do it.
It is time to completely opt Missouri out of this lifetime SNAP ban.
A majority of other states have already fully opted out including states like Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia and Louisiana.
Their law now states that having made a mistake and serving time for your mistake does not equate to a lifetime of punishment. Missouri needs to do the same. SNAP is an amazing program that can offer vital support to help ensure folks who are returning from incarceration succeed and not get stuck in the re-incarceration cycle. Denying people food assistance is not a way to support success which is why I am asking you to please pass House Bill 916 out of this committee.
Thank you.
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