A sign noting the acceptance of electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards that are used by states to issue benefits is displayed at a convenience store on Dec. 4, 2019, in Richmond, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
By one vote, an Idaho House committee advanced a bill to ban a nutritional assistance program formerly known as food stamps from covering candy and soda.
House Bill 109, by Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to seek federal approval to exclude candy and soda from foods eligible for coverage by the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Calling the bill part of the national movement coined “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, promoted by U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Redman told the committee Kennedy has expressed support for SNAP policy changes.
“Our federal government is really looking at this. And I’m asking for this committee, and our state, to move forward and help make Idaho healthy again by pulling out soda and candy,” Redman said in committee.
The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee, on an 8-7 vote Tuesday, sent the bill to the House floor with a recommendation that it pass. The committee did not accept public testimony on the bill at the hearing.
Two weeks ago, the committee voted to temporarily hold the bill in committee. That decision to hold the bill came after nearly an hour of public testimony and debate, where some lawmakers said they agreed with concerns raised by some business industry representatives that the bill would place onerous burdens on grocery stores to identify foods that would be banned from SNAP coverage, and the bill’s definition of candy was too broad and might even apply to granola and protein bars.
The bill defines candy as “a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruit, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of confections, bars, drops or pieces.” Under the bill, candy would not include “any item that contains more than” 10% flour “by weight or requires refrigeration.”
Debating the bill in committee Tuesday, Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said she would be more sympathetic to the bill if it dealt with “junk food.”
“I don’t see why we need to be banning granola bars and power bars and things that actually seem like they could be pretty healthy for people,” Rubel said. “… I feel like this is not really tailored to actually weeding out junk food. And some of this stuff is probably healthier than potato chips and Jell-O and other things that aren’t banned.”
More than 134,000 Idahoans are enrolled in SNAP, according to figures released in December. On average, an Idahoan on SNAP receives $181 in program benefits monthly, data from Health and Welfare shows.
The bill would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to request federal approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through a waiver to ban SNAP coverage for candy and soda. If the federal government doesn’t grant that waiver for Idaho, the bill says the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare “shall request such a waiver annually until such a waiver is granted.”
The bill’s fiscal note estimates it would not have a fiscal impact.
Republican legislators in Arizona, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming have introduced similar bills to request federal approval to ban SNAP coverage for candy and soda, Stateline reported.
House Bill 109 heads to the Idaho House, where it could be voted on in the coming days.
To become law, Idaho bills must pass the House and Senate, and avoid the governor’s veto.
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