Older adults on food assistance in Kansas to face new work requirements after veto overide
Older adults in Kansas will soon face additional work requirements in order to receive federal food assistance.
The Kansas Legislature successfully overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would have applied the same enhanced work requirements to able-bodied adults aged 50-59 without children that the Legislature imposed on younger adults last year.
The Senate voted 28 to 12 to override the veto Thursday after the House voted 84-40 to override the veto with the required two-thirds majority previous day.
The policy will take effect in July.
Kelly had rejected the bill, arguing it created unnecessary burdens for Kansans in a time when goods are becoming more expensive. The law mandates older adults receiving food assistance must work at least 30 hours a week or join an employment and training program, similar to existing rules for younger recipients.
Supporters of the measure argued the changes would encourage recipients to take advantage of existing work search programs.
“We want to help people to be able to get a job, to get the employment, the training they need to not only get a job but get a better job,” said Sen. Beverly Gossage, a Eudora Republican.
Opponents of the bill echoed Kelly’s veto statement while noting that the state would not save any money but instead deny benefits paid for by the federal government.
Sen Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, noted that the individuals the law focuses on are struggling, and whose food assistance is not going as far as it used to because of inflation. She spoke of long lines outside Wichita’s food pantries.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said she believed lawmakers didn’t understand what it meant to need food assistance.
“We get every meal paid for while we’re here and we actually get awards for being the best fed,” Sykes said. “It’s understandable how they would be out of touch with the actually hungry.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2023 at 11:10 AM.
