ANHC Updates and Action Alerts: 2014 Legislative Session Week Two and Cuts to SNAP in Farm Bill

Updates & Action Alert  AHNC Weekly Update and Alerts: 2014 Legislative Session Week Two Thanks to everyone who made a contact in Olympia last week! Please make sure you are registered for Hunger Action Day HERE!  We are putting an extra shout out to folks who live in the following legislative districts where we have meetings but no attendees so far:  Districts 3, 4, 15, 17, 25  Last week was a busy one as bills continued to be dropped and hearings on bills began. Feb. 7 is the deadline for bills to be out of the House of origin (except for fiscal bills). Emergency Food Assistance Program There are over 30 House members and at least 15 senators who have signed on to support additional funding for EFAP. Rep. Blake and Sen. Hatfield are organizing this effort for another week. If your lawmaker has signed on, please make sure to thank them. Northwest Harvest and Food Lifeline have begun to coordinate legislative meetings to include a local food bank manager joining by phone, which is a great way for lawmakers to hear from local constituents who can't be in Olympia. Washington Food Coalition is organizing a community sign on letter, and more than 130 organizations as well as 157 individuals have signed so far. Click here to add your organization. The letter will be delivered to lawmakers the day after Hunger Action Day. State Food Assistance Update The Children's Alliance is circulating a sign on letter to House members early next week. The letter, hosted by Rep. Pettigrew, will urge budget writers to complete restoration of SFA.   If you talk with House members who would like to sign on in support of full funding for State Food Assistance, please let me know and we'll get them signed on. Please remember that we have an alive alert at to urge your network to go to this link to send a message to their legislators about restoring SFA.   We are also collecting organizational sign-ons for a letter to legislators about full funding for SFA. The letter is revised from last year's letter. If you signed last year, you should have received an email already stating we are resubmitting the letter. If you know of organizations who would like to sign, please pass it along. Click here to see the letter.  School Breakfast Bill HB 2536 and SB 6444 Breakfast After the Bell bills have been introduced in both houses, however, hearings have not yet been scheduled. A new one-pager is now available. Action Needed: Contact Senator Litzow and Representative Tomiko Santos and ask that they give the Senate and House bills hearings in the respective Education Committees. Farmers Market Nutrition Programs A revised factsheet is available on the Farmers Market Nutrition Program request for an additional $500,000 in the Supplemental Budget.   Food and Farming Lobby Day is Feb. 11. The state Farmers Market Association conference is this weekend and speakers will discuss this request and ask members to take action. Hunger Action Day    Action Needed!  Register now for Hunger Action Day on Friday, Feb. 7 in Olympia! Hunger Action Day is the Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition's annual lobby day - come to learn about our hunger priorities, get updates on what's happening in the legislature, and meet with your lawmakers.  Click here to register and we'll make appointments with your legislators.  If you can't come to Olympia in person, you can participate in our online lobby day. Click hereand add your voice to our online petition!
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Updates & Action Alert  Farm Bill Conference Committee Agreement The House and Senate conference committee on the Farm Bill came to an agreement this weekend and filed their report on Monday evening. It appears that the House will vote on the conference bill Wednesday. The SNAP cuts in the conference bill amount to $8.6 billion over 10 years. These savings are accrued by raising the amount each SNAP household must receive in LIHEAP funds in order to receive the Standard Utility Deduction to $20. Washington is one of 13 states that have utilized a small LIHEAP payment to streamline the utility deduction process and provide higher benefits to families. We estimate that 232,000 Washington households will experience a drop in benefits (up to $90 per month). New applicants will be affected in March 2014; current recipients will receive lower benefits (unless they can provide utility bills that confirm payment) as their certification period ends over the coming year. The bill has modest boosts in nutrition supports in respects (e.g. for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), for "double bucks" farmers' market programs, for improved SNAP education and training programs, for Healthy Food Financing). These are small positive steps but are far from commensurate to the SNAP damage in the bill.   For example, if Washington received $20 million in new TEFAP funding, the amount allocated by the bill to the entire country, we would still by $50 million behind as DSHS estimates that lost benefits to the "heat and eat" change will total $70 million. Rep. DelBene, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, worked hard to achieve expanded pilots of positive employment and training strategies like those utilized by the Seattle Jobs Initiative. It's likely Washington will receive added funds for these pilots. However, language was added that opens the door for states to choose to pilot mandatory work requirements and require TANF work activities. Once the House votes on the bill on Wednesday, it will move to the Senate where we might see a vote as early as next week. Onerous House SNAP provisions that did not make the final bill include changes to Categorical Eligibility that would have forced Washington restore the asset and vehicle limits and drop gross income eligibility back to 130% of the federal poverty level. In addition, no across the board work requirements were adopted and current provisions that allow waivers in high unemployment areas of the "3 month out of 3 years' time limit on receipt of benefits by Able Bodied Adults without Dependents were not changed. Next Steps: Contact your member of Congress and ask that they speak out about the SNAP cut in the bill AND vote against the conference committee reporttomorrow on the House floor. We're asking members of Congress to speak up about the impact the SNAP cut will have on Washington families even if they choose to vote for the bill.
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