2025年德克萨斯州立法会议回顾

Feeding Texas and its network, including NTFB, advocated for multiple anti-hunger initiatives that were signed into law.

克拉丽莎·克拉克，政府关系官员

Considering only about 14% of bills filed during the legislative session pass into law, the North Texas Food Bank, in partnership with Feeding Texas, had a successful session.  Over 60 advocates from North Texas traveled to Austin to meet with lawmakers. Those who attended were from our agency partners, affinity groups, board members, NTFB staff and University of Texas at Dallas students. The Senate honored our group by proclaiming April 2, 2025, Food Bank Day at the Capitol.

I am so grateful to everyone who took the time to meet with their representatives. It does make a difference when lawmakers hear about the work being done in their districts to help those who are food insecure.

Together, the Feeding Texas network, which includes NTFB, tracked 142 bills throughout the session, participated in multiple virtual advocacy days, sent hundreds of emails to legislators in addition to traveling to Austin. Here’s a look at some of the wins from this session:

食物即良药

Research indicates that nonclinical factors, such as what a person eats, contribute to as much as 80% of a person’s health outcomes. The Food is Medicine Bill begins to tackle this issue by authorizing Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to allow Medicaid financing for nutritional counseling and instruction for certain patients. The bill also includes a pilot program for Medically Tailored Meals and other “evidence-based support services” for high-risk pregnant women, as well as an evaluation of that program’s impact on maternal and infant health outcomes.

Funding to Support TIERS Fixes and Modernization

Nearly $300 million was approved to allow HHSC to address current and ongoing challenges with meeting federal timeliness standards when determining eligibility for SNAP, Medicaid, CHIP and TANF. The fixes will help ensure neighbors who qualify for benefits receive them in a timely manner. Previous system errors led to application processing delays and wrongful denials.

非营利性食品银行免缴机动车销售税

这项法案免除了像NTFB这样的非营利性食品银行在购买、租赁或使用用于食品银行运营的机动车辆时缴纳的州销售税。这包括卡车、半挂车、冷藏车、送餐车和其他车辆。.

夏季 EBT

The Summer EBT program is federally funded through the USDA and would provide low-income families with children access to $120 in food benefits during the summer. The USDA estimates that 3.75 million Texas children could be eligible to receive approximately $450 million in food support through the program. The administrative costs to administer the program are split 50/50 between the state and federal government. Texas’ share of the cost is $60 million. It was included in the state budget that passed through the House and the Senate. However, Gov. Abbott vetoed that funding due to the proposed SNAP state cost-sharing plan in Congress. We will continue to advocate for Summer EBT.

简化 SNAP 资格审查

Feeding Texas also advocated for streamlining SNAP eligibility checks at six months, though that issue did not receive a hearing in either the House or Senate. The measure called for the implementation of periodic reporting in an effort to save on administrative costs while enhancing program integrity.

Secured Additional Funding

Feeding Texas helped secure a $20.4 million Surplus Agriculture Products grant, which provides food banks with produce, protein and other items from farmers. Another $6 million was approved for the Nutrition Incentive Programs, which provides SNAP participants with matching dollars when they buy groceries from farmers markets and other select retailers.

Root Cause Initiatives

Feeding Texas and NTFB also supported several “root cause” initiatives that address the underlying barriers to food security, such as housing, financial security and access to healthcare.

• A Housing Eviction Bill that would have been harmful for tenants was amended thanks to collaboration from tenants, allies and advocates, including Texas Housers. With their feedback, the bill eliminated the ability for landlords to serve eviction notices through third parties. 
• A House Bill signed into law by Gov. Abbott requires HHSC to annually notify medical providers, hospitals and birthing centers that if a newborn who should be auto enrolled in Medicaid has not been assigned an ID number, they can use the mother’s Medicaid number for reimbursement.
• Another bill, passed in partnership with RAISE Texas, works to enhance transparency in medical expenses by mandating that health care providers submit an itemized bill for services rendered and supplies provided.

Hunger is a nonpartisan issue and NTFB is grateful to its partners and supporters who joined us in advocating for anti-hunger policies during the last legislative session.

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