House OKs photo IDs for food aid

A pair of bills that Republicans say will reduce fraud in food stamp, Medicaid and welfare programs — but that Democrats say are misguided — easily passed the House on Wednesday.

The goal is “to protect the integrity of the entire SNAP program,” and “get the benefits to people who need them,” Rep. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, said of House Bill 50, which requires adults to have a photo ID on cards issued under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the former food stamp program.

“SNAP cards used fraudulently are being used to feed the drug crisis in Ohio,” he said.

Analysis of the bills by the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission estimate that neither one will produce savings from reducing fraud — an estimate Schaffer disputes. It also estimates the photo ID bill will cost up to $2 million for new photo cards, and up to $3 million to operate the photo ID program.

The bills, which now go to the Senate, were part of a busy House session.

The House also voted 85-1 for a bill adding two domestic relations judges to Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The county’s domestic relations and juvenile caseload per judge in 2014 was the largest among Ohio’s five major metropolitan counties. House Bill 174 now goes to the Senate.

The photo ID SNAP bill, passed 61-30, was proposed following a report last year by Auditor Dave Yost, who highlighted structural weaknesses in the food assistance program, including 36 instances where dead people got benefits more than a year after death, and 1,337 recipients with fund balances of more than $2,300.

He also implied other fraud could be occurring, but the administration of Gov. John Kasich said a number of the findings “aren’t necessarily fraud.”

A key concern is that SNAP cards are being traded for drugs.

Dennis Lowe, commander of the Major Crimes Unit, a task force that serves Fairfield, Hocking, and Athens counties, said lower-level drug dealers are often willing to accept SNAP cards as payment.

“As an undercover officer it was common for me to use at that time food stamps and untaxed cigarettes as a form of payment for illegal narcotics,” he told a House committee.

But critics say food-stamp cards are issued for an entire household, so a photo would not represent all authorized users of a card. They also note that with self-serve checkouts, cashiers often won’t see the pictures — and aren’t required to report abuses even if they do.

“Not only does it lack evidence of its effectiveness, it also lacks transparency in relation to the actual cost our state agencies will have to shoulder with its implementation,” Lisa Hamler Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, told a House committee.

The House also voted 74-14 to approve House Bill 119, which would require state agencies to conduct quarterly cross-checks of millions of food-stamp and Medicaid recipients against records of immigration status, lottery winners, income real estate, and other states’ benefit programs.

Current law requires an annual check.

“This is about strengthening our current verification system to make sure we weed out those who don’t need assistance,” said Rep. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon.

Rep. John Barnes, D-Cleveland, said the bill doesn’t get at the bigger problem of people in the system not getting needed services.

“We’re talking about whether or not there’s some fraud, when the fraud is so small that it’s almost insignificant to the system,” he said. “Listen to these counties where people aren’t trained … and are not serving the people that the money is supposed to provide coverage for.”

In other business, the House voted 91-0 for House Bill 137, making peace officers mandatory reporters of child abuse. Rep. Bernadine Kennedy Kent, D-Columbus, said Ohio is the only state that does not specifically require it.