According to North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, more than
1.7 million North Carolinians experience hunger each year, and roughly 1.2
million rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to afford
food.
On October 1, North Carolina taxpayers will begin paying an
estimated additional $85 million a year toward the costs of running SNAP.
The change does not affect the food benefits SNAP recipients
receive, which remain fully federally funded, according to the North Carolina
Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). Instead, the change affects how the
costs of running the program are divided between the federal government, states
and counties.
The change is part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also
known as H.R. 1, which was signed into federal law in July 2025. The law
reduced the federal government’s share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to
25%, leaving states and counties responsible for 75% of those costs.
The law also changes how SNAP benefits will be funded
beginning October 1, 2027. The federal government will no longer cover 100% of
SNAP benefit costs. States, including North Carolina, will be expected to pay
up to 15% of benefit costs, depending on their SNAP payment error rate. Because of this Stein’s office estimates
North Carolina could be responsible for paying an additional $140 million or
more each year beginning in 2027 to continue offering SNAP benefits.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP
payment error rates measure improper payments. This includes overpayments and
underpayments and can also include cases where someone who is not eligible for
SNAP is approved for benefits.
In this year’s state budget, the North Carolina General
Assembly increased funding for SNAP administration and invested in staffing and
technology aimed at reducing the state’s payment error rate.
According to Stein’s office, lawmakers did not include
additional funding in the state budget for county departments of social
services to handle increased workloads and costs associated with the new
federal law.
However, NCDHHS has been working with county DSS agencies to
lower North Carolina’s SNAP payment error rate. Stein’s office says those
efforts have reduced the amount the state could be required to pay toward SNAP
benefits in 2027 by $280 million.
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