The federal government has withheld a $10.4 million payment to Kansas for food assistance programs.
This comes weeks after Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach said that once the food assistance money is lost, “there’s no way to get it back.” And according to the attorney general’s office, the money is gone.
“We warned that this would happen,” Kobach said in a news release Monday.
“Now low-income Kansas families won’t be able to put food on the table because of her political defiance,” he added, referring to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
There is still a chance for Kansas to get the money back. A Sept. 20 letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Kansas has 10 days to submit an appeal.
Why is food assistance money in danger?
The $10.4 million was part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Kansas has a 9.98% error rate in the program, which can be either an underpayment or overpayment of benefits. A vast majority of the state’s errors are overpayments.
The federal government wants to reduce those error rates, and it plans to do so through data analysis. State law says Kansas has to comply with data requests, so the USDA asked for the names, birthdays, personal addresses and Social Security numbers of Kansans who have received SNAP benefits since Jan. 1, 2020.
The Sept. 20 letter from the federal government said other states have turned over the data, which has uncovered more fraud and duplicate payments than previously realized.
Kelly has refused to turn over the data, saying the data request is illegal.
There are laws that protect Kansans’ sensitive personal information. And the federal government could be sharing this information with people who are not legally allowed to look at it, state officials said.
Other states have similar concerns. A lawsuit in California is challenging the legality of the data request, and Kansas has asked to wait until a ruling in that lawsuit has played out. The state doesn’t want to hand over data if a judge could later rule the request is illegal.
Kelly’s office said no similar request has been made in the program’s 60-year history, and they say the state is already working to lower the error rate.
What happens next to Kansas SNAP funds?
Kansas can lose $10.4 million every three months if the state doesn’t hand over the data. But the state is expected to appeal the decision to disallow payments.
Kansas would appeal to an appeals board.
That appeal process lets states plead their case, and members of the board must not be people who made the original claim. Filing an appeal automatically stops the federal government from withholding money. Kansas can also get every penny back if it wins the appeal.
The appeal process first gives states 30 days to submit relevant documents, a list of witnesses and other documents to make their argument. There may also be a hearing, which would be within 60 days after written statements are turned in. The state would have a chance to argue its side in front of a neutral third party.
If a hearing is held, a decision is made within 30 days after oral arguments. If no hearing is held, a decision is made within 30 days after written documents are received.
The appeal board can uphold, deny or alter the claims before them. Final decisions are subject to judicial review.
This process could also give the California lawsuit time to play out. Kansas is not involved in that lawsuit, but Kelly’s office wants the courts to rule on the legality of the request.
