In the final 18 months of that program, the federal government reimbursed SNAP beneficiaries in Ohio 34,742 times, totaling more than $17 million in relief, according to Ohio Job and Family Services spokesperson Tom Betti.
Under H.B. 174, those funds would come from the state, not the feds.
“I think it’s worth the investment to make sure people don’t go hungry,” said Tims in an interview with this news outlet. “Obviously, it’s not a long-term solution, and we can’t just pour money down the drain and allow people to get away with theft. However, in the meantime, our food banks are already overwhelmed, food prices are already high. And then on top of that, to have a vulnerable population of people who are supposed to have access to benefits being prevented from that because of criminal behavior and activity, it’s unfair.”
The bill has not yet received a hearing in the Ohio House, but Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told this outlet Monday: “overarching goal of it makes sense to me.”
“If someone’s SNAP benefits are stolen, of course you have to ask why, who stole them, the criminal part of it has to be brought up,” Huffman said. “But yeah, we want to make sure that people have the benefits that they need under that program.”
The problem
The federal program, and the one Tims and her joint sponsor Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, would like to see, are the response to a nationwide proliferation of benefits theft, largely through card skimming.
While most credit and debit cards have become more secure through chip technology, those advancements haven’t come to Ohio’s SNAP benefit cards. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, only California uses chip technology in their benefit cards, with Maryland and Oklahoma to “soon” follow. Ohio is not yet on that list.
Tims told this outlet that the long-term solution to the problem in Ohio is “re-imagining what SNAP benefit cards look like” and expressed interest in getting the state to join the federal government’s modernization efforts.
According to the USDA, Ohio’s contract with its SNAP benefit card provider ends in June 2025, with four two-year options to extend.
In the meantime, the Ohio JFS is urging SNAP users to take advantage of security measures that already exist, like a benefits card locking feature.
How would it work?
Here’s how H.B. 174 would work:
First, it directs the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which administers SNAP benefits to some 1.4 million Ohioans each year, to “establish a program to replace supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits for households that have had benefits,” the bill reads.
Ohioans would then fill out an application attesting that they had no knowledge of “any transaction for which the household is applying for replacement benefits.”
Beneficiaries would be able to receive the amount of benefits stolen from the household, or up to two months of their household’s monthly SNAP allotment, whichever value is lower.
For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It’s free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening.
Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
About the Author
