Hobbs vetoes proposed eligibility requirements for SNAP, Medicaid

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a package of bills on Friday that would have added eligibility requirements onto benefit programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

The federal budget bill that passed last year created new requirements for states. Unless Arizona brings down its “error rate” in the SNAP program, the state stands to lose around $139 million in federal funding.

This year, Republican state lawmakers sent Hobbs a series of bills to increase reporting on programs like SNAP and add requirements for eligibility.

She vetoed nine of the bills that reached her desk.

In veto letters, Hobbs wrote that the state already has eligibility requirements and should be focusing on lowering costs for Arizonans instead of causing them “needless frustration.”

Included in the vetoes was a bill that would have restricted which kind of foods people can buy on SNAP and a bill to require hospitals to question patients about their immigration status.

Hobbs had vetoed a handful of the same bills last year.

“The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) has already taken decisive action to improve the accuracy of SNAP benefit determinations. These include enhancing eligibility verifications, increasing staffing and training focused on accuracy, and investing in technology solutions. The legislation you sent me would duplicate these efforts and disrupt the operations of an already overburdened agency,” Hobbs wrote to lawmakers.