Antonio Condemns SNAP Funding Changes in H.B. 730

Today, Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) issued the following statement after Republicans in the Ohio Senate passed House Bill 730, a capital reappropriations bill that also changes how the state distributes administrative funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to underfund the program in Ohio’s largest and highest-need counties.

“There is no fairness in H.B. 730’s funding distribution because it pits people in rural counties against people in urban counties. We should provide SNAP funding for all Ohioans in need, regardless of where they live,” said Antonio. “While I applaud the additional 12.5 million dollars proposed by this bill to fill in the gap, it comes nowhere near solving the problems created by the big, ugly federal budget bill. The road to hell is often paved with good intentions, but in this case, the legislature should have done much better.”

Cuts to SNAP under the federal spending bill (H.R.1) created an estimated $38.2 million immediate administrative shortfall for Ohio’s SNAP program. To address this, Statehouse Republicans allocated $12.5 million distributed equally across all 88 counties, rather than by caseload, leaving urban counties facing multimillion-dollar shortfalls while fully funding smaller counties.

The bill now heads to the governor for his signature.