CONCORD -- Next month, the parents of 44,000 income-eligible children will receive $120 in an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) under a $5.2 million federal grant request should it win the approval of the Executive Council.
The New Hampshire Legislature approved a bill (SB 499) last spring to offer summer EBT benefits for eligible families so they could buy nutritious food during the months that school was not in session.
The bill wasn't signed into law until Aug. 2. Even with approval of this grant request from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture two weeks later, there wasn't enough time to make these payments to families during the summer months, Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver said.
The council is meeting this Wednesday at the Church Landing housing development in Meredith.
A 100% federal grant would provide the benefit for these eligible families while the state must foot the bill for 50% of administrative costs to set up and staff the effort.
This bill Gov. Chris Sununu signed spells out state spending of more than $813,000 this year to include personnel, technology upgrades, transaction fees and outreach to the public.
The New Hampshire Hunger Solutions group made this a top priority bill for the 2024 session.
Retiring State Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, authored the legislation which had bipartisan support in the State Senate that had unanimously embraced it.
House Republican budget leaders balked at it, however, and wanted instead to spend $50,000 to study the program.
They argued the federal grant support in the future was uncertain and it should have become part of the next two-year budget that lawmakers would consider in the spring of 2025.
But over House GOP opposition, 11 House Republicans joined with all Democrats and one independent House member to endorse it, 192-178.
What delayed this bill's final passage was if it would also include an unrelated bill to give affected cities or towns disaster relief from the state while communities often wait for months to receive federal emergency disaster funding.
House and Senate negotiators endorsed an amended provision at the urging of Rep. Judy Aron, R-Acworth.
This gives a governor the authority to declare a disaster for an affected town and allow that community to seek from legislative budget writers a grant of up to $25,000 in any calendar year.
Aron had sought this additional local help after 2021 flooding in her town convinced the Legislature to set up a new program to give communities a state-backed loan while they waited to receive federal relief.
Heavier rains caused even greater road damages to Acworth in July 2023.