Complete Story
11/26/2018
Advocates For The Poor Warn About Two Ohio House Bills
The state's most vulnerable citizens are once again being targeted
Two Ohio House and Senate committees met earlier this month to discuss a pair of bills that Athens County Job & Family Services and others warn will harm the state’s food stamp administration program’s ability to help feed Ohio’s most vulnerable citizens, especially those in Appalachia.
The laws – House Bill 608 and House Bill 119, which have yet to be scheduled for a vote during the Ohio Legislature’s lame-duck session (November to December) – seek to place additional layers of regulation on the state’s administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
SNAP is federally funded to provide assistance in buying food to people living with a gross monthly income at or under 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Roughly 14 percent of Athens County residents received SNAP benefits as of January 2018 (about 9,190 people). Meanwhile, about 20 percent of Athens County’s population is considered “food insecure” (defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a household’s lack of access to enough food to live a healthy life).
Please select this link to read the complete article from The Athens News.
