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Ohio Department of Job and Family Service has responded quickly to prevent older Ohioans from mistakenly losing SNAP benefits.
HR 1 (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act) made sweeping changes to SNAP and other federal programs yet contained many examples of confusing or contradictory language requiring state and federal administrators to interpret. Nearly one year after enactment, regulations and clarifications are still coming.
Within the SNAP program, HR 1 expanded the groups who must meet work requirements or lose hunger benefits.
Being homeless, a veteran, or someone aging out of foster care no longer qualifies as a valid barrier to employment in SNAP. HR 1 also extended the age of work requirements from age 55 to 65. In Ohio, the largest impacted group were older adults who would need to meet the work requirement or prove proof of an acceptable reason they should be exempt.
Overly narrow exemption eligibility for older Ohioans aged 60-64
Complexities and technical definitions led to a narrow interpretation of legislative language. The result suggested that adults over age 60 would not be eligible for a longer list of exemptions available to younger people, including caring for a person with a disability or being in treatment for substance use disorders.
Ohio was among a very small number of states which opted for the narrow interpretation.
During several contentious JLEC meetings, state administrators committed to revisit if they received clarification from the federal Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA) that oversees SNAP. That clarification arrived on June 11 in the form of an FAQ document to states.
Food and Nutrition Administration FAQ made it clear: “The Act [H.R. 1] excepts individuals from the time limit if they meet an exemption from the general work requirements at Section 6(d)(2). Age is not a listed exemption in Section 6(d)(2)."
If an individual aged 60 to 64 also meets an exemption from the general work requirements, such as being responsible for the care of an incapacitated person, then they are not subject to the time limit."
Ohio clarifies work requirements exemption policy days after FNS directive
Less than one week later, ODJFS issued a memo to counties (link here to the memo) instructing them to implement procedures to screen SNAP recipients up to age 64 for work requirements exemptions and apply all General Work Requirement exemptions to those ages 60-64. We applaud ODJFS for acting quickly and finding a temporary solution while we wait for Ohio’s sometime plodding rule process to catch up with the new information.
Ohio Job and Family Services made good on their commitment to legislators to change course as soon as clarification arrived.
This path is not without challenges. The statewide eligibility system uses the narrower set of exemptions for older adults, which means county Job and Family Service case workers must now manually override the system. This increases the risk of mistakes, which Ohio will be held accountable for under HR 1 if the state SNAP error rate is above 6 percent. It also places additional burden on local offices and county workers who are already contending with reduced state funding for program administration.
SNAP recipients of all ages should contact their county JFS office if they are not currently employed and believe they may qualify for a work requirement exemption.
