The Iowa Legislature is taking a look at some changes to some of the welfare programs.

House District 47 Representative Carter Nordman (R-Panora) says a bill is working its way through the House dealing with the benefits of the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). He reminds everyone of the error that the federal government found in Iowa in 2019 where too many people were using these programs that didn’t need to.

“And so when they penalized us we had to take a hard look and say, ‘Here’s what we need to do to change the way the reporting system is, to making sure that we’re following up with people to make sure that we don’t have such an error in the amount of people who are on the system that don’t actually qualify for it.’ So the (Iowa) Department of Health and Human Services have done a lot of internal things. This bill is looking to codify that and put it into (state) code.”   

Nordman points out lawmakers are also looking to put some restrictions on what he calls “luxury items” such as energy drinks, soda, candy and chocolate covered strawberries.

“What we need to remember is that these are taxpayer dollars and we want to ensure that we have a safety net for people who need it and for those who absolutely need to be on this program, we want to give them a hand up.” 

Nordman adds this bill will not alter other food items that are eligible with SNAP like proteins and cheeses. He welcomes any comments or concerns by contacting him via email at carter.nordman@legis.iowa.gov or calling him at 515-480-7837.