USDA moves to end a SNAP policy Alaska believes is helping its error rate

The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed Tuesday to end a SNAP eligibility policy that Alaska adopted last year and that the state's public assistance director believes is helping lower its SNAP error rate.

The policy, called broad-based categorical eligibility, lets a household qualify for SNAP automatically if it gets a non-cash benefit funded by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federal welfare block grant. Those households skip SNAP's federal asset limit and gross income limit. The benefit can be small: USDA itself encouraged states to use "an informational pamphlet or an 800-number to call," the proposal says. Forty-six states, including Alaska, use the policy, according to USDA.

USDA says it has let states stretch SNAP beyond the income and asset limits Congress set. Under the proposal, automatic eligibility would cover only households in which every member gets TANF cash or other ongoing help with basic needs, Supplemental Security Income, or a mix of the two. Households that now qualify only through other TANF-funded benefits would face SNAP's regular income and asset tests.

Nationwide, USDA estimates about 1 in 6 SNAP households would lose benefits, or 6.3 million people in 2029, the first year it's expected to take full effect. It estimates federal benefit spending would drop about $44.6 billion over five years. About 1.78 million children would lose automatic free school meals, though nearly all would still be eligible for free or reduced-price meals by applying separately. The proposal doesn't estimate how many Alaskans would be affected.

At a legislative hearing Tuesday, Rep. Justin Ruffridge asked whether the policy had changed Alaska's SNAP error rate. Deb Etheridge, the state's public assistance director, said it removes the need to verify assets, one place errors happen. The state hasn't seen more applications or recipients because of it, she said, "but we do believe we're seeing an increase in our success and/or a decrease in our error rate due to it." Asked whether that was measurable, she said the state had seen "just a slight decrease."

The error rate matters. A 2025 federal law ties states' share of SNAP costs to it. Alaska's stood at 20% in October, when Health Commissioner Heidi Hedberg said the state faces a $45 million bill unless it gets the rate below 6% by the end of this year.

USDA proposed a narrower version of the change in 2019 and withdrew it in 2021. It's taking comments on this one through Dec. 10.