Dear friends and neighbors,

Expanding access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) and food assistance for Nebraska families has been a personal priority of mine since I joined the Legislature. I’m glad that through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act, Congress has granted states additional flexibility within SNAP, and that Nebraska has taken advantage of these opportunities for families facing food insecurity.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has a website to track the options each state has taken up and which waivers have been applied for and approved. Nebraska’s options and waivers can be found here.

My colleague, Senator Sara Howard, compiled the following summary of what options Nebraska is pursuing:

Enhanced SNAP Allotments

The CARES Act provides enhanced SNAP allotments to SNAP recipients. Nebraska’s Department and Health and Human Services (DHHS) has received approval from FNS to provide enhanced allotments for families who were eligible for SNAP in March and April. The enhanced allotments would bring all SNAP households up to the maximum allotment for that family size. For example, if a family is receiving $300 a month, but the maximum allotment for that family size is $409 a month, that family will receive an additional $109 for the months of March and April.

The March enhanced allotment was issued to the EBT cards of SNAP families on April 11, 2020. The enhancement for April will be issued on the EBT cards of SNAP families on May 7, 2020.

It is important to note that all SNAP benefit dollars are federal dollars returning to the state.

Waiver of Work Requirements

The Coronavirus Response Act temporarily waives the work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) in order for them to receive SNAP for more than three months. DHHS has interpreted this waiver to mean that ABAWDs who cannot meet their work requirements will not lose their SNAP benefits unless such person is offered employment and refuses to accept it. If a person were to refuse to accept a job, then that person would be limited to 3 months of SNAP.

For other SNAP recipients, a loss of job due to COVID-19 will not result in a work requirements sanction. You can find DHHS’s Frequently Asked Questions on SNAP here.

Online Shopping

Nebraska is one of seven states to join an innovative pilot program to allow SNAP recipients to use their SNAP benefits and EBT cards to purchase food online. At the moment, Amazon and Walmart are the only two participating retailers but states can work with retailers locally to add them to the pilot.

Extended Recertification Periods

Nebraska also took up the option under the Coronavirus Response Act to extend certification periods for families who would have been scheduled to re-certify for SNAP during the months of March, April, and May. This means these families will not have to go through the recertification process at this time and their SNAP eligibility will automatically be extended for six months. This will allow DHHS to focus on processing applications for new families needing SNAP.

Extension of Reporting Requirements

This option provides DHHS with additional time to report to FNS with Quality Control case data. At this time, it is harder to receive timely verification from employers and to conduct their quality reviews. States are being given an additional 45 days to complete these Quality Control review

Nebraska is NOT pursuing the option to expand eligibility for children on reduced price lunch.

The Coronavirus Response Act also creates temporary SNAP eligibility for children who qualify for free and reduced lunch and whose schools have been closed. This is referred to as “Pandemic EBT.” In Nebraska, this option would mainly benefit children who receive reduced priced lunches as those families are generally over the SNAP income threshold in Nebraska.

In conversations with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department has said they do not believe they have the capacity to deal with the operational challenges of extending eligibility to these children. It is an option they may reconsider in the future.

Again, thank you so much to the office of Senator Sara Howard for compiling this resource. As always, please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Email is the best way to get in touch with me, at mhunt@leg.ne.gov.

Many thanks,
Meg