119th (2025–2027)
S. 4836
The SNAP Staffing Flexibility Act of 2026 allows state agencies administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to hire contractors to help process applications and handle other program functions when facing specific challenges such as application surges, health emergencies, seasonal staffing needs, or temporary worker shortages. The bill applies safeguards to prevent contractors from having financial conflicts of interest, from being incentivized to deny benefits, or from replacing existing merit-based government employees. States using contractors must notify the federal Department of Agriculture, which will publicly post this information within ten days, and contractors hired due to temporary staffing shortages must be released once application backlogs are cleared without affecting existing union agreements. The legislation requires the Secretary of Agriculture to submit annual reports to Congress detailing how states are managing application increases and recommending any changes to federal authority in this area, but does not specify new funding for these contractor arrangements.