According to a recent USDA study, 12% of Nebraskans experience food insecurity. That's higher than the national average.

If legislation that is the priority bill of state Sen. Jen Day, D-Papillion, becomes law, some lower-income Nebraska families will receive help paying for food. LB-952 would require the state to participate in the USDA's Summer EBT program. The program provides $40 on an EBT card per child per month during the summer to spend on groceries.

Gov. Jim Pillen decided the state would not participate. Day contends the USDA will waive the Dec. 31 deadline, and said she's encouraged by the support LB-952 has received in the Unicameral so far.

"I had 16 co-sponsors, both Republicans and Democrats. And we've been working on building that into a larger coalition of folks, so that hopefully, we will be able to override a veto in the event that that becomes necessary," Day said.

Pillen noted other summer meal options, such as the site-based USDA Summer Food Service program. However, advocates point out not all families can get their children to a meal site, especially in rural parts of the state. And the number of sites has declined significantly since the pandemic. 35 states and the District of Columbia, along with several territories and tribal nations, have enrolled in Summer EBT.

The first hearing on LB-952 is at 1:30 p.m. this Thursday.

One in nine Nebraska children is experiencing food insecurity.

Kay Wissman, community services director with Southeast Nebraska Community Action, said its food pantries served nearly 200 more households in fiscal year 2022-23 than in 2021-22, and added there's no doubt Nebraska families need help.

"Particularly during the summer when children are home, and they don't have access to at least that one, if not two, good meals at school, " Wissman explained.

Summer EBT would bring in roughly $18 million annually to assist families of about 150,000 Nebraska children.

Rebecca Firestone, executive director of the nonpartisan OpenSky Policy Institute, said the yearly administrative cost of around $300,000 is an investment that could bring the state a "significant return."

"There's a robust evidence base that suggests that when children are food secure, they do better in school. And the funds that those families spend on feeding their children is also money that goes back into supporting local economies," Firestone contended.

Three of Nebraska's neighbors -- Colorado, Kansas and Missouri -- are among the states enrolled in Summer EBT.

Hundreds of people from across Oregon gathered in Salem for an advocacy day last week, urging lawmakers to pass what's known as the Food for All Oregonians bill.

Supported by a coalition of more than 180 organizations, it would ensure older adults and children could get food assistance regardless of their immigration status.

Research shows hunger rates are rising across the state, leaving one in six children facing food insecurity.

Oregon Food Bank's Associate Director Cristina Marquez said access to food benefits supported her family growing up, and made it easier for her to go to college.

"We know that programs like SNAP are the most effective anti-hunger tools we have," said Marquez, "being able to lift folks out of poverty each year and keeping families stable."

Food for All Oregonians would create a new, state-run program similar to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Youth and older adults who would otherwise qualify for SNAP except for their immigration status, would be eligible. Opponents of the bill are concerned about its cost.

It is scheduled for a public hearing tomorrow in Salem.

Oregon Food Bank points to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing every $1 spent on food assistance generates about $1.50 for local economies.

Marquez added that immigrants of all statuses contribute to the state's functioning, especially in agriculture.

"Many of the folks that would be affected by the passage of Food For All Oregonians are folks that are currently farm workers," said Marquez, "essential workers, critical to many of the industries here in Oregon."

Marquez noted that California and Washington have already enacted similar policies extending food benefits to people regardless of immigration status.

Food for All Oregonians is part of an immigrant justice package of bills, which would ensure legal representation for immigrants and create a farm worker disaster relief fund.

While affordable housing advocates across the state have been cheering on Washington's rent stabilization bill in Olympia, so have organizations fighting hunger in the state.

Claire Lane, director of the Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition, stands behind the bill, which would limit yearly rent increases to 7%. Lane said her coalition partners with housing advocates because if someone is housing insecure, they are also likely to be food insecure.

"Really, the most important thing to take away from that is, we're not going to be able to solve hunger in Washington until we can ensure that people have more stable, more affordable housing," she explained.

Washington's rent stabilization bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate. Votes for the bill have largely been along party lines, with Republicans arguing it will result in less housing and higher rents.

Along with capping increases, the rent stabilization bill would require landlords to give tenants six months' notice for significant rent increases. Lane explained that having more time is key to supporting people having enough food, and added if a family only has two months to move because of a rent hike, they will prioritize paying for housing over food.

"And that's where you start cutting back on your groceries. That's where you start skipping dinner or you start skipping breakfast," she continued.

Lane pointed to new data from the University of Washington focused on lower income households, showing more than half of participants experience food insecurity, and said the data show food insecurity in the state is widespread, especially in communities of color.

"Seventy percent of Hispanic respondents, compared to 54% of non-Hispanic respondents, experience food insecurity. Those are huge numbers no matter how you look at it, but the disparity is obvious," she contended.

Democrats are confident the rent stabilization bill will pass this year, with some tweaks in the wording.


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Children's advocates are crying foul after House Republicans called for $12 billion in cuts to school meal programs, including the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty school districts to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

Erin Hysom, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center, said the funds are an important public investment and no child can learn on an empty stomach.

"We hear from teachers all the time that when schools offer healthy school meals for all, behavior in the classroom improves," Hysom reported. "Their academics improve and they're able to graduate and become more productive members of society."

Some 557 Colorado schools serving more than 206,000 students are projected to be affected. The proposed cuts are part of a sweeping effort by Republicans to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the federal budget in order to pay for extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other policy priorities, including mass deportations.

Hysom noted the Community Eligibility Provision has already reduced inefficiency and red tape, and cuts would send school nutrition directors away from kitchens and back to their desks to deal with unnecessary paperwork. She added the move would also affect farm-to-school initiatives putting money directly into the pockets of local farms and ranches.

"They're able to meet with local agricultural producers and bring in local products that not only improve the nutrition of the meal but also support the local economy," Hysom explained.

Cuts to federal nutrition funding would certainly not help Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All initiative, passed by voters in 2022. The popular program is competing with other priorities as the state grapples with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall.

Hysom worries the cuts could also mean the return of lunch line shaming.

"It really creates this stigma in the cafeteria," Hysom contended. "When we offer school meals to all children at no charge, it reduces that stigma."


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