Jonathan Ambarian

(KPAX) Last year, Congress made a change to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Starting in 2027, that new provision could require Montana to pay millions of dollars a year to cover part of the cost of SNAP benefits.

The Republican-backed “One Big Bill” sought to improve SNAP’s efficiency by requiring states to pay a percentage of costs if their error rate – the percentage of recipients who got more or less in benefits than they were entitled to – is higher than 6%. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the error rates for the 2025 fiscal year, and Montana’s was 8.86% – hardly changed from the 8.89% error rate the year before.

Montana’s rate was well below the national average of 10.62%, and it was lower than 30 other states. However, it’s still high enough that the state could be charged 10% of the cost of its SNAP benefits if it doesn’t change by the next report. That would amount to an estimated $16 million per year.

The final decision on whether a state must share SNAP costs will be based on either this error rate or the next reported rate, for the 2026 fiscal year. Jon Ebelt, a spokesperson for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, told MTN the department has already been planning to rely on next year’s rate, and that is where they have directed their efforts.

“We expected the 2025 rate recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and were pleased it was below the national average,” Ebelt said in a statement. “The Department remains committed to reducing the payment error rate, with a specific focus on driving down the numbers in 2026.”

Still, advocates like Kiera Condon are concerned about the impact if Montana does face this cost shift.

“Our mission is to end hunger, and SNAP is our most effective and efficient anti-hunger program,” said Condon, advocacy specialist for the Montana Food Bank Network.

She says MFBN is worried the strain on state budgets could lead to some states dropping out of the program altogether, or at least taking steps to limit how many people receive benefits.

“Essentially, the less people who are on SNAP in general, the less the cost shift is going to be,” she said.

MFBN released a statement last week, calling on Congress to delay enforcing the new rule. Condon said the “One Big Bill” also required states to implement expanded work requirements and other eligibility changes, and the new error rate data doesn’t take any of that work into account.

“The state really needs time to thoughtfully implement this, and so we're just asking for a two-year delay in the cost shift,” she said.

Any state with an error rate between 6% and 8% will be required to pay 5% of its SNAP benefits. States with rates between 8% and 10% will have to pay 10%, and those above 10% will have to pay 15%.

The current law gives a one-time option for states with a particularly high error rate – at least 13.33% – to delay the start of their cost share by a year. Montana is currently well short of that threshold.

In the 2025 fiscal year, about 80,000 Montanans participated in SNAP. They received a total of $164.4 million in benefits.