Coalition of States Slams USDA's Alleged Unlawful Attempts at Collecting SNAP Data
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) attempts to collect personal data of millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients from the states are unnecessary, inefficient, and unlawful, said a Friday comment letter from a coalition of states, led by the California attorney general. The USDA, which suspended its data demand after a lawsuit from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and others, published a System of Records Notice (SORN) on June 23 in an attempt to resolve legal issues and resume the data collection (see 2507180027).
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The SORN "would necessarily require that States unlawfully turn over Americans’ sensitive, personal information," the comment letter said. In addition, it would "duplicate Congressionally mandated eligibility determinations already performed by the States, which is not only a profound threat to individuals’ privacy, but also a waste of funds that could be used to fight hunger."
The SORN also "purports to allow USDA to disclose individuals’ personal information for any legal or regulatory enforcement purpose, in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974," the letter continued. "Currently, such data can generally only be used for SNAP purposes, such as administering the program or enforcing SNAP-related laws and regulations."
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington state also signed the letter.
California AG Rob Bonta (D), in a release Monday, said, "I urge the Trump Administration to reverse course and abandon its unprecedented proposal to share SNAP data for purposes far beyond ensuring the integrity of this program.”
In comments Friday, EPIC said the USDA's attempts to justify the collection of sensitive personal data have fallen short and renewed its motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Thursday (see 2507180027). EPIC led a coalition of stakeholders in filing a lawsuit and TRO in case 25-01650 in May, arguing that federal government agencies' demand for states to submit SNAP data is illegal because numerous federal laws, including the Privacy Act or E-Government Act, provide safeguards for personal data (see 2505290019).