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Anti-hunger advocates are pushing for a stronger state response to fill gaps created by federal funding cuts and new work requirements for SNAP, also known as food stamps, that experts say will make it harder for New Yorkers in need to feed themselves and their families.
The governor, State Assembly and State Senate have laid their cards on the table with their respective budget proposals—and lawmakers have until April 1 to agree on, and pass, a spending plan for the year ahead.
While hunger has long been a challenge for many New York families, food assistance programs have faced federal budget cuts and eligibility changes this year, a result of Congress passing H.R. 1, also known as President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in 2025.
The changes include new work requirements for hundreds of thousands of local households who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which experts say will make it harder to access those benefits.
Anti-hunger advocates are pushing for a stronger state budget response to fill those gaps. And while they praised the inclusion of some programs in the budget proposals presented so far by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Senate, and the Assembly, they fear there will still be holes to fill.
“While all three proposals include important investments in food access and safety-net programs, there remains a meaningful gap between the scale of need and the resources currently proposed—particularly as federal SNAP support declines and eligibility restrictions tighten,” acknowledged Assemblywoman Maritza Davila, Chair of the Social Services Committee, via email.
What’s included
According to advocates, the most celebrated funding proposals are increases to the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program—which supports food banks and pantries—and the Nourish NY program—which provides funding for food banks to buy directly from farmers. The Senate and Assembly’s one-house budget plans called for $75 million for each initiative, but the governor proposed less ($51 million and $55 million, respectively.)
The Assembly is calling for $2 million, and the Senate $3 million, for Double Up Food Bucks, which gives SNAP beneficiaries additional money to purchase produce at participating stores and farmers markets.
Both houses also want to double a tax credit for farmers who donate to food pantries, and proposed creating a similar program for restaurants, according to the office of Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, chair of the Agriculture Committee.
Joel Berg, the CEO of Hunger Free America, said the Senate’s budget plan is stronger than what the Assembly and Gov. Hochul have pitched because it includes extra funds for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food to low-income pregnant and postpartum women as well as kids under 5, among others.
“We applaud the Senate’s investment of $15 [million] in additional funding for WIC, and encourage state leaders to build on that investment, providing $30 [million] in the final budget,” said Krista Hesdorfer, director of public affairs for Hunger Solutions New York.
Hesdorfer explained that WIC participation in New York has increased by nearly 25 percent in the last five years, but funding for the local agencies that administer the program hasn’t kept pace. “The funding would also allow us to reach more of the estimated 200,000 New Yorkers who are likely WIC-eligible but not yet participating—a missed opportunity to fully leverage federal anti-hunger programs,” Hesdorfer noted.
Another point that advocates welcomed is the Senate’s proposed inclusion of $3 million to create a state-run program to reimburse people’s stolen SNAP funds.
While Hochul’s executive budget includes a long-awaited modernization of New York’s Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards—adding security chips to prevent “skimming,” in which thieves steal SNAP participants’ account information—those upgrades won’t roll out until February 2027.
In the meantime, skimming victims “have no recourse,” Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who introduced a bill to create the compensation fund, said in a statement. “It only takes a minute for SNAP benefits to be stolen or skimmed from unsuspecting New Yorkers, who only learn of the theft when they have a cart full of groceries they need,” he said.
The money would reimburse victims whose SNAP or cash assistance benefits were stolen or defrauded, something thousands of low-income New Yorkers have fallen victim to. The federal government stopped replacing stolen benefits at the end of 2024.
“That’s an effort that we’ve supported and are really excited to see movement on,” said Leah Kabran Eden, executive director of Equity Advocates, a New York-based organization supporting food justice leaders.
Assemblywoman Davila explained that the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which is in charge of administering the SNAP program at the state level, has already selected a vendor to upgrade New York’s EBT cards, “though it remains unclear whether additional funding will ultimately be required.”
What’s left out
One of the major gaps left by federal cuts to SNAP that none of the budget proposals address is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). It funds nutrition education programs for low-income families, and is destined to end this year after the federal government slashed its $29 million budget.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm about SNAP-Ed at the state level since July, when we were looking at the consequences of HR 1,” said Taisy Conk, director of food and nutrition programs at Children’s Aid, one of 18 providers across the state running SNAP-Ed programs. “When that was passed, we saw states as having an opportunity to step in and keep the program in place before it disappeared.”
Another change brought about by HR 1: several categories of immigrants who were previously eligible for SNAP—including refugees, asylees, and victims of trafficking—are now excluded from accessing the benefits.
To make up for it, advocates are pushing the SNAP4ALL New York campaign, which would invest $244 million to create a new state-funded food benefit program, a recommendation made by the governor’s Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council. It would target New Yorkers who have recently lost their SNAP eligibility under the new federal rules and those who have always been excluded, such as undocumented families.
“We agree with anti-hunger advocates that emergency food programs cannot replace SNAP, which provides direct purchasing power to households,” Davila acknowledged.
“Both systems are essential, but they serve different functions—and neither alone is sufficient to meet the growing need,” the assemblywoman added. “The strain placed by federal policy decisions continues to shift responsibility and costs onto state and local governments as well as working families across New York.”
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