TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a proposal Friday that would have raised work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving food assistance in Kansas.
The bill would have required able-bodied adults without dependents to work 30 hours a week and participate in a mandatory work training program to be eligible for food assistance. They must currently work a minimum of 20 hours a week to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Supporters of the bill said it would encourage Kansans to work and help with high levels of unemployment in the state.
"It is hard to comprehend that during a time in which Kansas is experiencing record unemployment, the governor would veto a bill aimed at getting able bodied adults back into the workforce or on a pathway out of poverty, towards self-sufficiency and personal prosperity," said Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican, in a statement following Kelly's veto.
Masterson said he will work to override Kelly's veto during the legislature's veto session, which begins April 25.
The bill would have removed approximately 12,000 Kansans from food assistance, said Quinn Reed, a policy research analyst for Kansas Appleseed. Opponents argued it would discourage thousands of Kansans who currently receive food assistance from enrolling in the program and would heavily burden food banks throughout the state.
Nearly 90% of the 14,000 able-bodied adults in Kansas who do not currently participate in the voluntary employment training program for food assistance would turn to food banks, said Karen Siebert, a public policy adviser at Harvesters The Community Food Network.
"If 90% of people would lose their food assistance benefits, that's where the food banks come in," Siebert said. "We're really concerned because that's not doing anything to solve food insecurity. Those people still need food and what are they going to do but turn to the charitable sector for help, and we do not have capacity to absorb those folks who should be getting those federal benefits."
Some people would likely participate in the training program and work to meet the new 30 hour work requirements, but it would still take SNAP benefits away from a significant number of Kansans, Reed said.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is Kelly's Republican opponent in this year's gubernatorial race, said he would have signed the bill into law in a statement Friday.
"I strongly believe people who are able to work, particularly those who have no children relying on them for support, should have a job or at least be in training for job skills as a condition of receiving taxpayer-funded benefits," he said in his statement.
Some individuals who are characterized as able-bodied adults without dependents may have short-term responsibilities to care for parents or friends that could hinder them from meeting a 30-hour work requirement, said Jami Reever, executive director of Kansas Appleseed.
"We're looking at people who might be going through a short-term crisis, and so we need to be able to be responsive to what they're going through in their life and to provide them with the support that they need," Reever said. "You know, we have an employment shortage crisis everywhere, but withholding food and withholding important benefits isn't going to be a solution to that problem."
In a statement, Kelly said making it harder to receive food assistance in the state would be an unnecessary burden for those who already struggle with rising food costs because of inflation.
