The Alaska Department of Health is at risk of losing federal funding because of an ongoing backlog in reviewing food assistance applications, federal officials told the state last month.
The state has repeatedly failed to comply with deadlines to process applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, leaving thousands of Alaskans waiting months for help.
The processing backlog has persisted despite the state spending tens of millions of dollars to address it, and despite orders from state and federal judges for the Alaska Division of Public Assistance to improve its processing times for food stamps and cash aid.
The Food and Nutrition Office in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the SNAP program, sent a letter to state officials on March 10 informing them that federal officials would “initiate escalation procedures” in response to the state’s backlog.
According to federal data, the state was meeting the required processing deadlines for SNAP applications just 36% of the time. The federal government considers 95% to be “acceptable performance.”
The USDA’s warning may sound familiar: In February 2023, the federal Food and Nutrition Office sent a letter to state officials outlining “grave concerns” over the state’s delays in processing SNAP applications. At the time, less than 42% of applications were processed on time.
In the months after the 2023 letter, the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy put more than $60 million toward addressing the backlog through computer upgrades, contract workers and food for the state’s overwhelmed food pantries.
The state also removed an interview requirement for food stamp aid, meaning that in many cases the state approved SNAP applications without speaking to applicants as required under federal law. That change helped minimize the backlog, but it also led the federal government to impose a $12 million fine on the state for bypassing federal requirements.
Now, the interview requirement is back in place and the backlog has returned, too.
Less than half the applications for food assistance processed in February were done on time, down from 83% in July, according to data collected by the state. More than 2,700 Alaskans have been waiting more than three months for their applications to be processed — despite a requirement that all applications be processed in 30 days or less.
In the March letter, Food and Nutrition Service acting regional administrator Terry Gunnell warned that violation of federal law “can result in suspension or disallowance of administrative funding.” Gunnell gave the state 30 days to reply to the letter with its plan for improving its processing times.
Department of Health spokesperson Alex Huseman said the state responded with a request that federal officials approve the same improvement plan as the one proposed by the state in response to the 2023 warning.
The state reported that the vacancy rate among staff able to process applications was 30% in March. Out of 223 funded positions, 68 were vacant last month.
In 2021, Dunleavy vetoed funding for more than 100 positions in the Division of Public Assistance. Since then, the governor has supported funding for temporary staff members to fill in for some of the permanent positions that he cut, though many of those temporary positions have remained unfilled.
Dunleavy has also supported continued funding for a call center staffed by more than 130 contractors who live outside Alaska and are not authorized to make benefit eligibility determinations.
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