States are trying to reduce SNAP error rates to keep the program alive

Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program brought about by H.R. 1 could mean millions or even billions of dollars of additional costs for states. The civic tech nonprofit Code for America is helping some states reduce their error rates, through technology and process changes, to help them reduce the benefit amount they’d be required to cover, as opposed to by federal dollars, after the Donald Trump administration’s sweeping changes. Rebecca Piazza, executive director of safety net strategy at Code for America, says the expanded work reporting requirements and financial restructuring of the program is putting “a lot more strain on programs and program staff” in the states. “We’re really encouraging states to use data to prioritize where they should be focusing,” she says. “What are the areas of highest impact of bringing down that error rate?” AI and other automation technologies can help, she says, by spotting blurry documents, extracting data from uploaded images of pay stubs or combining multiple applications mistakenly submitted by the same person. This is critical work, she says, because states that aren’t able to reduce their SNAP error rates and lower the benefit amounts they’re required to cover, could put their program “at risk” — for states, SNAP participation is not mandatory.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week appointed Amanda Crawford, the state’s chief information officer and executive director of the Texas Department of Information Resources as the state’s commissioner of insurance. Officials said they’ll soon announce a replacement to lead the state’s technology department.

New York State’s technology office this week announced Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, a United Nations University researcher, has been appointed as chief artificial intelligence officer, replacing Shreya Amin, who spent less than a year in the role. The state also named a new chief digital officer.

Florida is strengthening animal welfare protections with the passage of Dexter’s Law, a new statute designed to prevent repeat animal abuse and improve accountability across the state. Named after a shelter dog whose inhumane death in 2023 sparked public outrage, the law responds to growing concerns that individuals convicted of animal cruelty were still able to adopt or obtain pets with little oversight.

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