Pa. wants in on legal battle to protect SNAP data for 2 million recipients

Pennsylvania is looking to join the multi-state lawsuit against the federal government over demands to share Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients’ data, potentially protecting $461 million in benefits for two million people across the state.

A hearing on adding Pennsylvania to the litigation is set for next week after the states filed a motion late Monday to include the commonwealth, according to court documents.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking the federal Department of Agriculture (USDA) from collecting data on SNAP recipients and preventing the withholding of any funding until at least Oct. 9 in the 21 states and Washington, D.C., already part of the case, court documents show.

That would extend to Pennsylvania, too, if Chesney agrees to add the commonwealth.

USDA also has indicated it will withhold SNAP funding from Kansas because Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly hasn’t complied with the federal data-sharing directive. Kelly’s office told The Kansas Reflector they’ll appeal that decision, but didn’t say whether her state would be joining the lawsuit. Meanwhile, the state’s Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach is suing Kelly and her Department of Human Services secretary over the issue.

Citing data security concerns, Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) had been holding off on passing food stamp recipient information to the USDA. Hoa Pham, the state’s deputy secretary of Income Maintenance for DHS, told the federal agency as much at the July 30 deadline to set up data-sharing with the federal government.

A few weeks later, the Trump administration threatened to yank nearly half a billion dollars in SNAP support annually (nearly 11 percent of the total, equivalent to the state’s error rate) if the commonwealth didn’t comply by Sept. 19, according to WESA.

Instead, Pennsylvania officials submitted documents to USDA essentially declining to participate, claiming doing so risked violating federal law in light of the Sept. 18 order in the case the commonwealth now seeks to join, court documents show.

The controversy over SNAP beneficiary data has unfolded amid the onset of new qualification requirements that could eliminate benefits for 144,000 Pennsylvanians as well as looming cuts that could cost the state between $125 million and $800 million. Meanwhile, Medicaid has dealt with comparable turbulence over information seeking about recipients and changes to qualification standards.

USDA has said SNAP recipient information will help stem fraudulent use of program benefits. As part of that mitigation effort, the agency says law enforcement will have access to the database – and that’s provoked concerns that it will be used for other purposes as with Medicaid data handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The information sought includes names, addresses, social security numbers, occupation and education information, plus citizenship, immigration and marital status, according to USDA documents.