Senate committee scraps bill banning ‘non-nutritious’ SNAP purchases, suggests study commission instead

The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services gutted a bill that would have restricted the kinds of foods SNAP recipients can purchase with their government benefits.

The bill, Rep. Victoria Sullivan’s Senate Bill 615, would have seen New Hampshire submit a waiver to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to blacklist certain “non-nutritious” items, like soda and candy.

Challenges with implementing the waiver arose early.

Kevin Daigle, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Grocers Association, explained to legislators across multiple hearings that the subjectivity of the label “healthy” and the complicated question of compliance could push some independent retailers to “just simply stop accepting SNAP.”

Senators halted the bill’s progression on Wednesday, however, amending it to instead establish a commission to study “the use and regulation of SNAP in New Hampshire,” citing stakeholders’ “nuanced perspectives” on the food assistance program. The committee unanimously recommended that the amended bill pass.

More than a dozen states have adopted the healthy choice waiver, yet there is still no established, comprehensive list of disqualified items.

The 22-member study commission would recruit its membership from a variety of backgrounds, including four legislators, two SNAP recipients appointed to the commission by the governor, the governor herself or a designee, representatives from food insecurity advocacy organizations, such as New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, and representatives from industry organizations.

Members serving on the commission would be tasked with studying how to promote healthy food purchases within SNAP and the economic impact of changes to the program, as well as evaluating the prevalence of food stamp fraud.

Committee Chair Sen. David Rochefort reflected on the intricacies of what had previously seemed to be a clear-cut, health-promoting initiative.

“As we work through this and the many, many hours of discussion I’ve had on this, I came to realize that it’s much easier to say ‘no junk food’ than it is to implement no junk food,” Rochefort said. “So, although I personally don’t think that taxpayer money should be buying food that has zero health benefits, I also appreciate the fact that this is a very complicated and complex issue.”

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