Thankful for Opportunity: Alaska legislation proposed to feed more Alaskans and help families get out of poverty!
Written by Rachel Lord- AFPC Advocacy Director
Rachel Lord with AFPC Board Member/ Breadline Executive Director, Hannah Hill at the Anti-Hunger Conference
During my first week on staff with AFPC in mid-September, I traveled with Robbi to attend the Food Bank of Alaska’s Anti-Hunger Conference in Anchorage. It was an inspiring and full two days, with food pantry staff and food access advocates from around the state convening to envision and collaborate on ways to reduce hunger in our communities. One common theme was ways to improve the federal SNAP program (“food stamps”) for Alaskans, including how to reduce the administration burden at the state level and make the program more accessible to those in need.
To that end, we learned more about the opportunity for increased state control over this important federal nutrition program through ‘Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility’ (BBCE). Not only could the implementation of BBCE increase access to SNAP and decrease hunger, it would also decrease the administrative burden at the State Division of Public Assistance AND it would help people climb out of poverty. A big win all around! Some of the BBCE highlights include:
Help Alaskans get out of poverty. This was one of the most powerful pieces of BBCE for me as I listened to stories from around Alaska. The current SNAP program discourages savings, and assets (including, for example, a boat that your family might use to subsistence fish, or savings to make sure you can buy snow tires or make repairs when your car breaks down) are counted against SNAP eligibility. We know that assets are critical to help families get out of poverty, and BBCE would eliminate the asset test for SNAP eligibility.
Allow Alaskans to earn more and keep jobs. We currently have a “benefits cliff” in Alaska, and BBCE would allow for a phase-down approach for working families as their income rises. That way, a small raise at work or taking a new job won’t push families out of benefit eligibility which often is, in effect, a net loss to a family’s income.
Reduce administrative burden and create more State control. By implementing BBCE, Alaska would join the vast majority of other states in the country in taking advantage of State control options for implementing SNAP. Through simplifying the application process, Alaska would substantially benefit from BBCE through increased administrative efficiency.
Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility can be implemented administratively, or through an act of the Legislature. We are so pleased to join the Alaska Food Coalition and many others in supporting Representative Mina’s House Bill 196 and Senator Giessel’s Senate Bill 149, companion bills that would implement this important change for Alaska. You can read our letter of support here. Are you feeling thankful and full of hope this season? Please consider sending your own note of support to Rep. Mina (email Representative.Genevieve.Mina@akleg.gov) and Sen. Giessel (email Senator.Cathy.Giessel@akleg.gov), and we’ll keep you updated on opportunities to engage and news updates as the Legislature kicks off the session in January!
Learn more about BBCE, thanks to the Alaska Food Coalition (BBCE in Alaska PDF) and the Food Bank of Alaska.
