Dear WFIA members:

I am writing to update you about upcoming changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes are as follows:

• Beginning March 2023, temporary boosts to SNAP’s benefits (known as emergency allotments) that were authorized by Congress to help low-income families deal with the food and economic hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic will end nationwide following the recent passage of the FY23 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.
• SNAP is the nation’s largest federal nutrition assistance program. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, SNAP emergency allotments brought all SNAP households to the maximum benefit allowed by household size or provided SNAP households with a supplement of $95/month (whichever was greater).
• Prior to the passage of the FY23 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, Federal law required states to have an emergency or disaster declaration in place during an existing federal public health emergency declaration in order to issue SNAP emergency allotments. Currently, 31 states (including DC and Guam) are providing SNAP emergency allotments. Eighteen states no longer have emergency or disaster declarations and, therefore, have already stopped issuing emergency allotments.

For more information about what the end of SNAP emergency allotments means for you and/or the communities you serve, please visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) website: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/changes-2023-benefit-amounts.

• Please check out our latest infographic on forthcoming changes to SNAP benefits: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/2023-benefit-changes
  
• Please find our latest blog on upcoming changes to SNAP benefits: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2023/02/08/snap-emergency-allotments-are-ending
  
• If you encounter questions about SNAP benefits from your customers, please have them contact their state or local SNAP agency. They can find their state or local SNAP agency contact information here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/state-directory.  
  
• If you know families in need of additional support to put food on the table, local programs and partner organizations are available to help. Families can call 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE to speak with a representative who will find food resources such as meal sites, food banks, or other social services available near them.

We appreciate your assistance in sharing these changes within your organization to ensure widespread awareness of these updates in order to better assist customers. Thank you.

Best regards,

Tammie Hetrick, IOM SHRM-CP
President & CEO
Washington Food Industry Association
O: (360) 753-5177 ext. 105
M: (360) 870-0486
tammie@wafood.org