Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight
Two state lawmakers who work in health care want Republican South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden’s help to ban sugary drinks, candy and “other non-nutritious items” from a nutrition program for low-income people.
Sen. Sydney Davis, R-Burbank, and Rep. Taylor Rehfedt, R-Sioux Falls, sent Rhoden a letter this week asking him to seek a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prohibit families on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) from purchasing the items.
“This policy reform is about promoting healthier outcomes, encouraging smarter choices, and protecting the integrity of a program by ensuring responsible use of taxpayer dollars,” the letter read. “South Dakota should align its policies with common sense and nutritional science.”
At least four other states had asked the USDA to let them ban some foods from the assistance program as of late April: Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas and Indiana, according to Reuters. President Donald Trump’s administration has called on states to request such waivers, and said it’ll work to approve them in a push to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Forty-one million people nationwide use the program in a typical month. Over 37,600 South Dakota households participated in the program in March, according to the state Department of Social Services, which includes 33,675 children. The average household received $395.38 through the program, costing about $14.9 million in federal funds. States pay for about half of administrative costs.
Critics of the waivers and bans on “unhealthy” food say the restrictions stigmatize low-income people and could create inefficiencies in implementing and tracking the program because states spend more administrative time establishing, monitoring and updating the list of restricted food items. Research from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that increases in monthly SNAP benefits increase nutritious food consumption, such as vegetables and healthy proteins, among participants while reducing food insecurity and fast-food consumption.
Some rural South Dakotans live in areas with limited access to supermarkets, where gas stations fill the void with more expensive but less nutritious food options, according to a 2008 South Dakota State University report on food deserts in the state. At that time, nearly half of South Dakota counties were considered food deserts.
In an emailed statement to South Dakota Searchlight, Rhoden’s spokesperson Josie Harms said the governor is “grateful” for the federal administration’s initiative, but did not say whether he will seek a waiver.
“Our state will continue to review our SNAP eligible items to ensure that nutritious options are available to our families,” Harms said.
Davis said Rhoden’s administration responded to the letter with a request to further discuss how a waiver might be implemented in the state. She hopes to work with the state government and other retailers and stakeholders to walk through the implementation process, identify what items to ban and to hear what the department projects as “additional implementation costs.”
“We shouldn’t let the fears of a difficult implementation stop us from trying to implement good policy,” Davis told South Dakota Searchlight. “At the heart of this request is looking out for the health and betterment of South Dakotans, kids and families that are financially vulnerable.”
As a certified registered nurse anesthetist at the Sanford Vermillion Medical Center, Davis said she’s seen the impact a sugary diet can have on children’s health, which leads to costly health care bills for families — or the government if the children are on Medicaid. For example, she’s anesthetized children for dental work, she said, because of “Mountain Dew put in their baby bottles.”
“Whether or not that Mountain Dew or whatever was purchased with SNAP benefits, it’s hard to say,” Davis said, adding that if the SNAP ban on such items is implemented, “then I guess we’ll know.”
Davis said it’s “not uncommon for government programs to have guardrails in place.” She said she doesn’t know what the timeline would be to request a waiver and implement a ban.