Panel endorses DHS fund ask
Agency seeking $2.9M to support summer food program
A legislative panel on Tuesday endorsed the state Department of Human Services’ request for $2.9 million in state restricted reserve funds to pay for required state matching funds to support Arkansas’ participation in the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program newly authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services.
The Legislative Council Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee recommended the Legislative Council, which meets Friday, approve the state Department of Human Services’ request for $2.9 million in state restricted reserve funds.
In January, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Arkansas would join the new federal program that provides families financial assistance to buy food during the summer months when many children go hungry and families struggle to make ends meet without school-provided meals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program provides $120 in food benefits for each eligible child, according to the governor’s office. School-age children who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, or the National School Lunch Program, will automatically qualify.
The program in Arkansas will be administered by the state Department of Human Services in partnership with the state Department of Education, state Department of Human Services Secretary Kristi Putnam said in a letter dated Feb. 23 to state Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson.
The Department of Human Services estimates the total administrative cost of the program to be $5,686,679 with 50% federally funded and 50% matched by the
state, she said.
The total requested appropriation for the issuance of benefits and program operations is $50,555,398, she said.
Asked after the legislative subcommittee meeting about how many children would benefit from the program, state Department of Human Services spokesman Gavin Lesnick said in a written statement that “We have estimated 373,000 eligible children, but this is only an estimate and the actual number may be different.”
During the legislative subcommittee meeting, state Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, questioned whether this program has been ongoing for several years or is a new program. Mary Franklin, director of county operations for the state Department of Human Services, said this is a new program.
“It has similarities to the pandemic EBT program that you are probably familiar with that did go on for the last several years, but this is a different program,” she said. “It doesn’t have any covid or pandemic-related requirements.”
This program is for children who are eligible for the National School Lunch program and/or home school or private school children who are receiving SNAP to receive a summer benefit, Franklin said.
Hickey asked why the program’s cost is not factored in the state Department of Human Services’ ongoing budget.
Franklin said “at this time, we are committed to doing summer EBT for summer 2024 and we are working rapidly to be able to do those benefits for this summer, and then further decisions will be made about future summers and we would come back and have additional conversations.”
Hickey also questioned whether the program is only a one-time program.
Mitch Rouse, chief of staff for the state Department of Human Services, said “since this is a new program, I think what we are approaching it as, we are seeing how it works this first year and trying to get some stats and data behind it and to see if it’s something that we want to continue going into next year.”
The requirements for the summer EBT program are different than the requirements for the pandemic EBT program and “we want to make sure that works for Arkansas, so that’s one of the reasons we don’t have it as an ongoing [cost] because we have not fully committed to whether it is an ongoing program,” he said.
In other action, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee recommended the Legislative Council approve the Department of Commerce’s request for $60,000 in restricted reserve funds to support the maintenance of the former Army-Navy Hospital in Hot Springs, where Arkansas Rehabilitation Services operated the Arkansas Career Training Institute until its closing in 2019.
The funds will pay for utilities and a contract for security services at the property until the end of this state fiscal year, Arkansas Rehabilitation Services Commissioner Joseph Baxter and Department of Commerce Secretary Hugh McDonald said in a letter dated Feb. 23 to Robert Breach of the Finance Department’s budget office.