Alabama lawmakers were warned this week that changes to federal nutrition assistance rules could add more than $200 million in new annual costs to the state budget by 2028.

Before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Buckner outlined how shifts in federal policy will shift greater responsibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program onto states in the years ahead and just how much that could be.

“Starting in FY27, administrative costs will go from about 50/50 to 75 state, 25 federal,” said Buckner. “That’s going to be about $35 million more than what we have now.”

Currently, SNAP benefits are fully federally funded, but beginning in FY28, states will also be required to pay a share of benefits tied to their payment error ra

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