Kansas among states who have not yet taken legislative action to help SNAP recipients

KANSAS (KSNT) — As Kansans who are missing their SNAP benefits are continuing to struggle, a state lawmaker is hoping to do something to help.

Currently, more than 180,000 Kansans who rely on food stamps are missing these benefits due to the ongoing government shutdown. During a legislative committee meeting on Tuesday, Representative Barbara Ballard made it clear that she wants to do something about it.

"We can't sit here and act as if it does not exist, we do have an obligation," said Ballard. "No, we did not shut their payments off, but these are still Kansans, and these are still people."

Currently, 36 states have taken action to support Americans who have lost their benefits. This includes neighboring states such as Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Most of these states have allocated funds to help support food banks, and some have even used money to fund SNAP directly.

However, Representative Ballard tells us, the Kansas legislature has not yet had any official discussions about this.

Furthermore, during Tuesday's Special Committee on State Budget, lawmakers talked about ways to improve the state's SNAP error rate.

In Kansas, nearly 10% of SNAP recipients are not eligible for certain benefits they are receiving. After Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" passed in July, states will now be penalized for having poor SNAP error rates, something state lawmakers expressed concerns about during today's meeting.

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