Kansas’ request to ban candy and soft drinks from being purchased with food assistance dollars has yet to be approved, while other states’ similar restrictions are expected to go into effect Jan. 1.
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
Impending federal cuts to food assistance under Trump’s recently passed economic bill threaten to stretch the capacities of Just Food, which is already seeing a spike in the number of residents registering for its services.
State lawmakers must soon decide whether to cover extra costs to provide food assistance after federal cuts. If they don’t, food banks and pantries alone can’t make up the difference.
Families of an estimated 138,776 Kansas school-age children could have received a $120 summer grocery card last year — they just didn’t submit the application.
A bill barring Kansans who use food benefits from buying soda and candy failed to move forward last week, while another bill passed that opponents said would stall stage agencies’ ability to react to changes in assistance programs and disability services.
LMH Health and Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health are partnering to offer a WIC clinic in Baldwin City on the third Tuesday of each month.
Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau urged her colleagues Tuesday to make access to healthy food a priority instead of imposing “humiliating” restrictions on how low-income residents use government funds for food. But the Senate advanced the bill on a voice vote.
Purchasing soda and candy with food stamps would no longer be permitted under a proposed Kansas bill, but whether the federal government would accept the move is unclear.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly wants the Legislature to revisit the 2015 policy that placed restrictions on access to the state’s cash assistance program and made Kansas’ program one of the trickiest to access in the country.
Legislation that would prevent Kansans from purchasing soft drinks and candy with food stamps met resistance Tuesday, continuing a series of hearings over what changes are needed to help the state’s most vulnerable residents.
