The Kansas Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the state governor over her refusal to share sensitive personal information about SNAP recipients with the federal government.
Why It Matters
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which manages the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), announced in May that states would be required to share benefit recipient data—including names, birth dates, addresses, and social security numbers—under an executive order from the President Trump expanding data sharing between federal and state programs.
According to the USDA, the goal of the data collection is to help root out fraud in the program, which serves some 42 million people nationwide and some 188,000 in Kansas.
But it has been met with some backlash: earlier this year, 19 states filed a lawsuit to block the data sharing, saying the request violates federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution.
Kansas was not a plaintiff in that case.
What To Know
On Monday, Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit against the state’s Democratic Governor Laura Kelly in an effort to bring compliance with the USDA data order.
The lawsuit argues that failing to disclose the data requested “will result in the imminent termination of federal SNAP funding” for Kansas’s administrative costs.
Under current law, the USDA pays for all benefits and half of the cost of running the program for every U.S. state.
In July, Laura Howard, Secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), who is also named in the lawsuit, told the USDA the state could not comply with the data-sharing order as it could place the department “in a position of potential liability in the event a court finds that the USDA’s demand violates federal law”.
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“When a governor flagrantly violates the law, it is necessary for the state represented by its attorney general to take action to ensure that the governor follows the law,” Kobach said at a press conference on Monday, accompanied by Republican Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi.
Kobach added that the “idea that a random lawsuit of dubious merit in a distant jurisdiction … somehow allows a governor in another state to refuse to follow the law—that’s crazy”.
Kelly said in a statement that Kobach, along with Hawkins “are engaging in what can only be described as low-rent political theater.”
“We learned last week that the Attorney General made vague statements about suing me in Alaska. My Chief of Staff made requests to both the Attorney General and Speaker for meetings to discuss this issue on Friday, and both declined to meet,” she said. “Now, in a rushed press conference rife with false statements and incorrect law, we learn there is going to be a lawsuit filed, a copy of which my office has yet to receive.
“I have always worked to protect Kansans, especially from federal overreach, and I will continue to do so.”
Newsweek has contacted the office of Kobach via the contact form on his website and Kelly via email outside of regular working hours for comment.
What People Are Saying
Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard said in a letter to the USDA in late July: “DCF is committed to the security of Kansans’ personal information and maintaining confidentiality consistent with state and federal law. This demand for personal information goes beyond the scope of administering the program and puts in jeopardy the privacy of hundreds of thousands of Kansans who depend on SNAP to put food on their tables.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a May 6 news release announcing the data-sharing plans: “President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds, and SNAP is no exception. For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data. The Department is focused on appropriate and lawful participation in SNAP, and today’s request is one of many steps to ensure SNAP is preserved for only those eligible.”
What Happens Next
According to a report by the Topeka Capital-Journal, the USDA has given the DCF until September 19 to comply with the request, or face withholding of $10.4 million per quarter in funding for SNAP administrative costs.
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