Maryland officials are estimating around 80,000 individuals are at risk of losing access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as new Trump administration policies settle into place.
The “One, Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) — President Trump’s massive tax and reconciliation bill — implemented new work requirements for those receiving federal food assistance starting Nov. 1, 2025.
Individuals that were previously exempt from work requirements that must now provide proof of employment or at least 20 hours of job training or volunteering to keep their benefits include:
- Adults ages 55 to 64
- Adults ages 18 to 64 who do not have a child under age 14 living with them
- Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults ages 18-24 who aged out of foster care
SNAP recipients who are disabled, receiving unemployment insurance, caring for an incapacitated individual, are in an alcohol or drug treatment program, receiving Temporary Cash Assistance or are “mentally or physically unfit for employment” as determined by a healthcare provider are exempt from these requirements.
SNAP recipients are required to recertify their eligibility every six to 12 months based on when they first applied for benefits.
Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Programs Larry Handerhan explains customers have a three-month grace period to meet the new requirements, making March the first “month to watch.”
“We're starting to see the folks who came in for a redetermination in November or December of last year not get their March benefits,” Handerhan said. “We are doing everything we can to make sure that customers share with us what might make them exempt and screen and use all the information that we have available to us to maintain that connectivity to SNAP.”
Handerhan says they will be tracking how many recipients fall off the program in the months to come.
With the passage of OBBBA, DHS has expanded its employment and training partner network from 30 to 48 organizations to help recipients meet the new requirements.
DHS also launched the Maryland Benefits One Application, allowing residents to apply for multiple benefits at the same time and a new screening tool to better identify work requirement exemptions.
“The goal here is really not just compliance for compliance sake. It's about income stability and long term food security,” Handerhan said.
SNAP isn’t the only social safety net program facing new work requirements under OBBBA.
The Trump administration implemented the first-ever nationwide work requirements for the Medicaid program, which could put 130,000 Marylanders at risk of losing health coverage.
Starting Jan. 1 2027, Medicaid recipients ages 19-64 in states with expanded eligibility (like Maryland) must work 80 hours a month or enter a job training or volunteer program to maintain coverage.
Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) crafted a bill that would establish a streamlined state database for employment training and other workforce opportunities that would allow residents to maintain eligibility for SNAP and Medicaid.
The database would be maintained by the Maryland Department of Health and updated every 30 days with public and private workforce opportunities.
“This is not a solve-all. This is a tool in the toolbox,” Ferguson said during the bill’s first committee hearing on Thursday. “This is one small step to reduce the administrative burden of finding resources for people that it will apply to most.”
DHS has not weighed in on the bill.
Starting October 2026, states will begin paying 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs, up from the current 50 percent it shares with the federal government.
Additionally, beginning in October 2027, states with high SNAP error payment rates will be required to start sharing the program’s benefit costs for the first time ever.
States with an error rate higher than 6 percent will be forced to pay anywhere from 5 to 15 percent of benefits based on their fiscal year 25 or 26 error rate.
The FY25 error rates won't be released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) until the end of June 2026 – Maryland’s fiscal year 24 error rate was 13.64 percent.
Handerhan points out high error rates do not necessarily correlate with fraud, but they are rather a measurement of how accurately states determine eligibility and how often they are overpaying or underpaying benefits.
Despite Maryland needing to cut its error rate by over half, Handerhan appears confident the Old Line State will become compliant by the deadline.
“Maryland has had a ton of success reducing our error rate in the past,” he said, noting the state made a significant drop from fiscal year 22 to 24. “We know how to do this, and we're incredibly committed to doing it in the future.”
Ferguson’s bill awaits a vote in the Senate Finance Committee before advancing to the Senate floor.
