Lawmakers in New York are seeking to allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients to use the benefits in restaurants.
“I think it’s important, particularly now when our small businesses have been suffering and our restaurants have been suffering, to provide them with another source of revenue so our folks could use their SNAP benefits to buy some hot, prepared healthy options at our local delis and our local restaurants,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, who sponsored the legislation.
The bill, which passed the Assembly, would allow SNAP recipients to use benefits on hot or prepared foods from approved restaurants, delis, and grocery stores at reduced prices. The state Senate passed similar legislation earlier this year, but changes in the new legislation will require lawmakers to pass the revised version.
Current law does not allow SNAP benefits to be used on prepared food or foods eaten in a store.
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The bill is opposed by Republican Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, who said the legislation wouldn’t require the benefits be used on healthy food options.
“I have the great pleasure of living with a vegetarian,” Goodell said. “I eat much of what she cooks — all of which, I might add, is both better tasting and more nutritious than what I cook. But, this bill doesn’t require that anyone eat healthy food. And, as we all know, obesity is a large and growing problem. So, we need to be sensitive to that.”
Goodell also expressed concerns that not all businesses would enjoy the income of the expanded benefits.
“I appreciate the fact that for some restaurants, this will give them an additional source of income. Only those private establishments that actually have a contract with the state of New York can participate in programs. So, as a fact of the matter, that is going to eliminate almost all local restaurants who are not going to go through the process of contracting with the OTDA so that they can provide restaurant food to SNAP benefit recipients,” Goodell said. “I hope in the future that we focus on a more healthy initiative to benefit all of the residents of New York state.”
Democratic Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes pushed back on Republican opposition, noting restaurants are required to list the caloric content of their meals.
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“It must have been probably 10 years ago when some of us were asking restaurants to list what the calorie content was on their meals,” Peoples-Stokes said. “We were asking food manufacturers to list what the calorie content was of what they were selling us in the stores. There was a lot of pushback on that. We finally got to it. And because we did get to that, some people are learning to eat healthier. Of course, there are some people who really just don’t care. But at the end of the day, everybody cares about having something to eat.”
Lawmakers passed the legislation passed with a 112-35 vote.
