This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
As 850,000 Virginians (and millions nationwide) went without food stamps this fall during the federal government shutdown, the giant reconciliation bill Congress passed this summer set off a timer for states to reduce their error rates in computing the disbursement of funds to recipients. States that don’t comply risk losing their funding.
That means Virginia must drop its error rate from where it hovers now around 11% down to 6% by 2027. Otherwise, the state could be on the hook for $270 million annually.
Enter “SNAP Forward,” an initiative spearheaded by Gov. Glenn Youngkin through an executive directive this past August with the express purpose of reducing the state’s SNAP error rates. It’s work that incoming Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger’s administration will inherit.
Youngkin has publicly referenced the initiative and his administration’s efforts to slash SNAP error rates repeatedly in recent months, most recently in his final budget presentation to lawmakers last month, but has shared few details. The Mercury gleaned a clearer picture of the progress so far through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests and by reviewing Youngkin’s proposed state budget.
Compliance with federal law changes
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, helps low-income earners afford to buy groceries. States have always handled disbursing the federal funds to qualifying residents. Sometimes, errors in either overpaying or underpaying households arise, stemming from paperwork mistakes by government staff or outdated information from beneficiaries.
When Congress passed its reconciliation bill in July, the measure stipulated that states with higher error rates may have to, for the first time, pay a portion of SNAP benefits to recipients.
Beyond spurring error rate reductions, the law adjusted age and work eligibility requirements.
Since Oct. 1, Virginia beneficiaries can no longer attest to their expenses and income themselves. Now, state employees reviewing SNAP cases must take further steps to verify applicants’ expenses. Household composition will be required to be verified as well by March 2026.
Strategic meetings
A series of meeting presentation slides revealed by the November and December records request shows conversation materials used during a monthly series of “SNAP Forward” virtual meetings with local Department of Social Services workers around the state. The meetings began in September.
The conversations entailed training refreshers for workers on managing SNAP, new policies to verify household information and notes on other states, like Wisconsin, which has maintained a low error rate. Virginia’s Department of Social Services has plans to conduct interviews with states that have track records of dropping their error rates to gather insights.
Contracted help
The Mercury reviewed a $1.7 million contract for services by a company called KPMG included in the state’s FOIA response. The organization offers tax, audit and advisory services to companies and governments that hire it.
With a six-month contract for services, KPMG has been tasked with deploying to “agreed-upon” local DSS offices to “support (Virginia) with targeted strategies to help improve SNAP payment accuracy.” The company was also hired to provide recommendations and prepare training documents.
The Mercury reached out to KPMG to inquire further but did not receive a response by the time of this publication.
A quality assurance team
As local social service departments around the state handle SNAP case loads, the administrative ease or strain looks different in different localities. One of the records the state released to the Mercury was a document outlining feedback from the Virginia League of Social Services Executives. The group expressed concerns about whether smaller local social services offices in the state could handle the additional administrative burden that the new process would require.
Lawmakers and advocates have also warned that these workers are expected to have heavier loads for Medicaid eligibility changes triggered by the reconciliation bill.
Youngkin’s outgoing state budget proposal earmarks about $2.4 million to fund a quality assurance team for the Office of Health and Human Services — a potential solution for the expected administrative challenges. The 14 new positions Virginia could hire would be responsible for helping to find and correct SNAP payment errors.
Whether the team comes to be or not depends on upcoming budget negotiations in the 2026 legislative session, where Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger will have her own ideas about how the state should allocate its resources. After Virginia’s legislature agrees on the next state budget, Spanberger will be responsible for signing it or making adjustments.