More Texans from low-income households may qualify for food stamps after the Texas state Legislature approved a bill last week adjusting values for vehicles owned by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients.
SNAP benefits are calculated based on a person's income, household size, and citizenship status. However, under current Texas law, the value of family vehicles can disqualify them from receiving benefits. House Bill 1287, if signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), would make a one-time inflationary update to the maximum value of a primary vehicle before disqualification from food stamps.
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Currently, recipients' vehicle values are capped at $15,000 for a primary vehicle and $4,650 for any additional vehicles. These limits have not been updated since 2001 for a primary car and 1974 for additional cars, according to the Texas Tribune. More than 11,000 Texas households were denied SNAP benefits in 2019 and 54,740 households were denied in 2022 due to their vehicle values, according to a Feeding Texas report.
The newly-passed bill would raise the value of the primary car to $22,500 and $8,700 per additional car. Any vehicles valued over those amounts would disqualify a family from receiving SNAP benefits.
“I really view this as not a handout but a hand up … What we want people to do is to grow out of dependence on the government. You have to have transportation to do that,” Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said to the Texas Tribune. “You have to have the ability to get to the job.”
The state will not incur additional costs by raising the values, as SNAP is a federally-funded program. The House signed the bill on May 28 and the Senate signed the bill on Monday, sending it to Abbott's desk on Tuesday. Whether he plans to sign the bill is unknown.
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SNAP benefits are currently undergoing changes at the federal level, as well. The bipartisan debt ceiling deal, if passed, will raise age requirements for SNAP benefits to those under 54 years old. Currently, the age limit is for those under 50 years old. The time frame of working at least 20 hours a week, or 80 hours a month, continues to apply. Otherwise, recipients will receive benefits for only three months every three years.
Recipients of food stamps receive an estimated $169 in monthly benefits on average, according to the Department of Agriculture. Increasing the age for work requirements is likely to reduce the number of food stamp recipients across the country.