ST. PAUL – State Representative Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, is seeking answers from state and federal officials as to why Minnesota was granted an extension of a COVID-era waiver that eliminates a benefit eligibility safeguard within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved Minnesota’s request for a SNAP Telephonic Signature Waiver. This allows eligibility workers to accept verbal signatures on SNAP applications, renewals, and recertification forms without creating an audio recording of the household’s attestation.
“Minnesotans would be shocked to know that people can simply call in to verify their SNAP eligibility and that this telephone attestation doesn’t even require a recording of the phone call be made or kept,” said Robbins. “Without a recording, there is no way to confirm the call actually took place, the identity of the person who placed the call, and the number from which the call was made. Given Minnesota’s history of rampant fraud in federal programs and the refusal by the Walz Administration to turn over SNAP data to the USDA for independent verification, as well as recent documented fraud cases involving SNAP, we need more oversight, not less.”
During COVID, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allowed states to use telephonic signatures to ensure access to food benefits during the pandemic. Under the standard process, however, use of a telephonic signature required states to keep an audio recording of the household member’s verbal assent linked to their application. Minnesota’s waiver allows the state to document that verbal attestation in the case record instead of maintaining an audio recording. Without an audio recording, any later review depends entirely on the eligibility worker’s case notes, with no independent record to verify who spoke or what was said.
Robbins said she understands the goal of reducing administrative burdens and delays for eligible households, but she questioned why the state would want to waive the recording requirement and why it would want to continue this waiver through 2028 – well after the end of the COVID emergency. She noted that eliminating the audio record raises questions about how the state verifies the identity of the individual providing the verbal signature, confirms the information provided, and resolves any disputes regarding attestation.
“Mitigating the lack of a recording by having an application mailed to the address provided over the phone, without identity verifications, merely serves to send confirmations to an identity thief,” Robbins noted. “I am also concerned about the potential impact to proving false application information in an Administrative Disqualification Hearing when the only evidence an applicant applied is a system entry from an eligibility worker.”
Robbins recently requested Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families share information on Minnesota’s use of the waiver and safeguards in place since Minnesota began accepting unrecorded verbal signatures for SNAP applications in 2020. She also wrote to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and its inspector general John Walk asking that the USDA OIG consider a comprehensive review of this and other SNAP waivers.
Robbins’ letters can be found below.
https://tinyurl.com/ms4nuc7y
https://tinyurl.com/bdcu6jj9
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