Kansas refuses USDA request for SNAP recipient data

In addition to pushing back against funding and policy changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, some states, like Kansas, are also challenging the Department of Agriculture’s pursuit of sensitive data of program recipients.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families, which manages the benefits program, on Monday responded to the USDA appeals board, arguing that the agency’s rules would allow the data to be shared unlawfully and that protecting people’s privacy is required by law.

“USDA seeks to change federal legislation with the following argument: Ignore what we said. Trust us,” Marc Alternbernt, general counsel for Kansas DCF, wrote in the response. “When this Board considers that the confidential information of thousands of Kansans and tens of millions of dollars are at stake, Trust us simply will not suffice.”

The letter claims that the USDA rule in question, called “Routine Use 8,” suggests that the personal information of SNAP recipients could be shared with other agencies or foreign governments. Alternbernt said this request goes beyond what the law allows for SNAP information and threatens people’s privacy.

“USDA’s data demand is unlawful because Routine Use 8 intends to use SNAP benefit applicant data outside permissible Food Nutrition Act purposes. USDA does not deny this,” his responses read.

USDA began requesting state SNAP data last May, following an executive order last March called “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos.”

Kansas has repeatedly defied USDA’s request, but not every Kansas state official agrees on how to handle SNAP recipient data. In September, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit against Gov. Laura Kelly in an attempt to force the governor to send the personal data of 730,000 applicants who’d applied to SNAP between 2020 and 2025 to the federal government.

The suit came shortly after Laura Howard, the secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, sent a letter to USDA denying the agency’s request for the state’s SNAP data, which included Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses, to be used as part of a federal database of SNAP recipients.

With its response to the USDA appeals board, Kansas joins California and several other states to have denied the agency’s request. A federal court agreed last year issued an injunction blocking USDA from collecting state SNAP data, noting that it had not created adequate safeguards to protect the information from unauthorized access or harmful use.