WATCH: Illinois continues work to reduce state’s high SNAP error rate
(The Center Square) – State agency officials continue to address the error rate with Illinois’ handling of federal food subsidies.
During a Joint Committee on Administrative Rules hearing this week, the Illinois Department of Human Services answered questions about the state’s handling of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, asked why the error rate has gone from 5.7% to 11.5% in 8 years.
“It’s a very expensive proposition for the state of Illinois,” DeWitte said during Tuesday’s JCAR meeting in Chicago. “If the number stays high, correct, to the tune of about $800 million.”
DHS bureau chief Sara Bechtold said they are working through ways to bring the rate down.
“I can’t speak to what happened in 2017. But I know that since I have started and since the rollout of the public law … we have been doing everything that we can to come up with a plan that will help us minimize those errors,” Bechtold said.
Bechtold said they are looking at adjustments of cost of living allocation rates to get payments correct and having renewals every six months instead of yearly, among other changes.
State Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, asked the Illinois Department of Human Services about how they’re working to lower the SNAP error rate. Bechtold said there are difficulties.
“Guidance from the federal level has been very slow in coming down the pipes, and has been very vague,” she said.
Spain said it’s imperative to taxpayers that the state drive the error rate down for food subsidies to ensure those who need it get it.
“A very important benefit, but it’s a very expensive benefit,” Spain said. “And if we can reduce the error rate as a state of Illinois, we’ll be doing a good service for both of those groups.”
If the state’s 11.5% error rate isn’t nearly cut in half to below 6%, Illinois taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the errors.
###
Sunny
Latest News Stories
Illinois quick hits: Illinois House members vote along party lines; More than 40% of CPS teachers missed 10 or more school days; State Treasurer says Bright Start earns gold
Meeting Summary and Briefs: Will County Capital Improvements & IT Committee for November 4, 2025
Glock: Judge’s OK of Chicago’s anti-gun lawsuit questionable, at best
Illinois quick hits: DHS responds to migrant release order
Pritzker disagrees with Durbin on vote to end shutdown
Pritzker open to conversation with Trump on alderman’s immigration proposal
Expert: Illinois’ outdated tax law leaves homeowners, taxpayers on the hook
Illinois quick hits: Midway Blitz nabs nine drunk drivers; Madigan prosecutor to depart
Meeting Summary and Briefs: Frankfort School District 157-C for September 2025
Meeting Summary and Briefs: Frankfort Fire Protection District for September 2025
Lawmakers divided after federal complaint targets student mental health screening law
Normal, IL fire and EMS challenges highlight need for statewide task force
Analysis: Chicago among worst cities to drive in
