State settles SNAP dispute, agrees to spend millions to beef up federal food aid program

Robert Nott, 

The Santa Fe New Mexican

Jul. 1—The state has agreed to invest millions of dollars into improvements to its administration of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as part of a settlement in a long-running U.S. Department of Agriculture claim alleging mismanagement between 2014 and 2016.

The benefits program called SNAP, sometimes known as food stamps, helps about 510,000 low-income New Mexicans — about a quarter of the state's population — buy groceries.

Federal officials accused the state of approving eligibility of some applicants without full verification, improperly paying out retroactive benefits and keeping many SNAP applications pending beyond deadlines. While the initial USDA claim was for more than $163 million, the state submitted an appeal "asserting they are liable for $7,030,914," according to the settlement agreement, dated June 25.

Over the next few years, the state Human Services Department will pay $3.6 million to the Department of Agriculture under the settlement agreement.

New Mexico also must invest more than $15 million to strengthen SNAP services.

The investments, over a three-year period, include $7.1 million for staff hiring and retention, $1.8 million for fraud detection initiatives, $3.2 million to improve call center operations and $3.1 million for SNAP system enhancements.

David Scrase, the state's acting Cabinet secretary of health and human services, wrote in an email Wednesday, "HSD has worked tirelessly these past three and a half years to improve processes and implement procedures to provide timely and accurate benefits to more than 500,000 unique New Mexican SNAP customers."

A recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report said 67 percent of households in New Mexico receiving SNAP benefits include children.

Verenice Peregrino Pompa, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said Thursday, "New Mexican families need SNAP in order to make sure no one goes hungry. These investments as result of this lawsuit are important. We're facing a real crisis because a lot of people are not getting their SNAP benefits on time and cannot feed their family."

The USDA suit wasn't the first against the state accusing it of poor management of the federal food stamp program or even fraudulent practices.

In past years, officials with the Human Services Department faced allegations of illegal efforts to reduce a backlog of emergency requests for benefits by falsifying information on applications so it would appear families were ineligible for aid. Federal law requires state governments to process emergency SNAP applications within seven days.

The USDA settlement includes a provision allowing the agency to withhold federal funding if the state does not comply with the terms.

Earlier this year, the federal government granted the state's request to automatically continue providing SNAP benefits to recipients for several months to aid those affected by a record year of devastating wildfires.

SNAP recipients can also purchase hot prepared food from authorized businesses, along with groceries, through July 12 to help those who were evacuated or lost their homes in the fires, or who lost electricity due to wildfire damage.