Benefits: Limits on food stamp choices would cost state millions.

Measure to limit choices would be costly for state

Madison — A GOP plan to limit how food stamps can be used to encourage people to eat more healthy options would cost millions of dollars — a hit to taxpayers that will make it tougher to pass the measure.

Details on the cost of the proposal were released Wednesday, the same day lawmakers learned they would not draw any more money over the next two years than earlier projections had shown. Republicans who control the Legislature were hoping for additional money to flow into the state so they could bring down cuts GOP Gov. Scott Walker has proposed for public schools and the University of Wisconsin System.

With no new money available, Republicans would have to eventually cut other programs or raise taxes to pay for their bill.

The bill would bar people from buying crab, lobster or other shellfish using food stamps and would require that two-thirds of their food stamp allocation go toward beef, pork, poultry, produce, potatoes, dairy products or food available under the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.

The bill is costly because the state would have to pay to install new software in grocery stores to make sure people adhered to the limits when they used the electronics-wipe cards to access food stamp benefits.

Precise details were not available, but the fiscal estimate says the bill would cost “several million dollars” and left open the possibility it could be even higher than that.

Rep. Mark Born (R-beaver Dam), chairman of the Assembly Public Benefit Reform Committee, noted the bill would require state health officials to get permission from the federal government to put the limits in place. If federal authorities signed off on the bill, the Legislature’s budget committee would then decide whether to pay to implement the measure.

“We’re not appropriating $3 million or $50 million or $2 on this bill today,” Born said.

The rough estimate was enough to cause one Republican to step away from the bill. Rep. Adam Neylon (R-pewaukee) joined all Democrats in voting against the measure Wednesday as a member of the benefits committee.

On an 8-6 vote, the committee forwarded the bill to the Assembly. Leaders will have the ultimate say on whether to take up the measure.

The fiscal estimate is dated April 29 — a day before a public hearing was held on the bill — but was not released publicly until Wednesday.

Democrats bristled at the analysis being withheld until after the hearing.

“They’re willing to waste (money) to be the food police, to be the gold standard of the nanny state,” Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-milton) said.

Democrats say the measure would shame low-income people and make it more complicated for them to go grocery shopping. They say the WIC standard is too restrictive for the 856,000 people who participate in the food stamp program, which is known as Foodshare in Wisconsin. Republicans counter there are already limits on what can be purchased using food stamps, so those using the benefit wouldn’t face a drastic change. They say people would be able to use one-third of their benefits for a broader set of foods, allowing them to buy more varieties of cheese.

The state and federal government share the cost of running the food stamp program. The benefits themselves — which totaled $1.2 billion in Wisconsin in 2013 — are paid entirely by the federal government.

Benefits are given out on a sliding scale based on income, with a maximum monthly benefit of $194 for an individual and $649 for a family of four, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Democrats have criticized the bill as too restrictive, noting that a typical block of mild cheddar cheese can be purchased under the WIC program, but a larger block or shredded version of the same cheese can’t. Similarly, sharp cheddar cheese isn’t allowed.

The public benefits committee addressed that concern Thursday by modifying the bill to allow any brand, size or packaging of products that are allowed under the WIC program.

The federal government would have to sign off on the limits on Wisconsin’s food stamp program. It has never approved such a change for other states.

It’s unclear if the Senate, also controlled by Republicans, would take up the bill. In the last legislative session, the Assembly on a bipartisan 6826 vote approved limits on how food stamps could be used, but the Senate never adopted that measure.

The bill is one of several Republicans have advanced to overhaul public benefits programs. Others would require drug testing for many of those receiving Foodshare or receiving unemployment checks.

Born, the chairman of the benefits committee, said the bills could be voted on by the Assembly as early as next week. Drug testing for FoodShare recipients is also a provision in the state budget Walker has proposed and may be taken up that way.

Those who failed the drug tests would get treatment funded by the state.