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Gov. Wes Moore on Friday earmarked $11.3 million in state and federal funds as part of a plan to reimburse victims of public benefits fraud.
The governor’s budget calls for adding $2.5 million in state money, spread over the remainder of this fiscal year and the next fiscal year. The remainder would come from the federal government.
Last year, thousands of Marylanders had federal food benefits stolen from their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program accounts, totaling more than $1 million, according to the Department of Human Services, the state agency that administers the federal program.
Congress in December changed the law to allow states to reimburse the victims of SNAP theft with federal money. Maryland was the first state to apply and have their reimbursement plan approved.
Prior to the shift, federal law prohibited states from using federal funds to reimburse victims. Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration chose not to reimburse them with state funds.
Department of Human Services Secretary Rafael J. López thanked the Moore administration for “listening to Marylanders who have been asking for quite some time to be made whole.” He said his agency wants the reimbursement process to be “simple, seamless and swift.”
“We’re trying to make sure that anybody who we have verified that has had their benefits stolen, that we are able to replace those benefits,” López said.
Moore applauded the work of the state’s federal delegation to ensure that SNAP theft victims can be reimbursed with federal funds.
The initial federal bill was introduced by U.S. Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, a Democrat. But weeks after its introduction, the bill was swept up in the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill passed in December.
Ruppersberger said he had received calls from constituents who had their benefits stolen and had read news reports that spurred him into action.
“You have a situation where people that are really desperate, a lot of times [it’s a] single mother with kids, and they go to get their money, and it’s gone,” Ruppersberger told The Baltimore Banner in January. “And I said, ‘That’s ridiculous.’”
Ruppersberger, who served for 12 years on the House Intelligence Committee, four as a ranking member, said his colleagues questioned why he would file a SNAP bill.
And the former Baltimore County executive said he told his colleagues, “When you represent a district, that’s your highest honor, your highest priority.”
Ruppersberger said the measure had bipartisan support. “And I’ve never seen a bill go so quick. And I’m glad it did because it’s a bill to help people.”
Maryland’s SNAP reimbursement plan also includes improving the security of electronic benefit transfer cards, which recipients use like a debit card to access their benefits.
brenda.wintrode@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Brenda Wintrode covers state government, agencies and politics. Before joining The Baltimore Banner, Wintrode wrote an award winning series of long form investigations for Wisconsin Watch.
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