Cuts to SNAP nutrition aid are coming. What San Diegans need to know

The recently enacted federal spending plan pushed by President Trump and congressional Republicans contains huge cuts to the federal food assistance program SNAP. While less severe than previous versions, the new law could still cost California more than two billion dollars.

About 400,000 San Diegans receive benefits from CalFresh, which distributes SNAP benefits in California. Many of those stand to lose benefits, though the local officials haven’t provided details on the impacts just yet.

However, groups that were previously and now are no longer exempt from work requirements for federal food assistance could be the first to lose benefits if they can’t find work.

The law will soon impact veterans, the homeless, older adults, as well as parents of older children, who were previously exempt from SNAP’s work requirements. New eligibility requirements, which are already in effect, will kick them off the program if they can’t show they are working 20 hours per week within three months. 

Many more recipients of SNAP funding, often called food stamps, could see benefit changes caused by provisions in the bill that shift the costs of the program to the states starting in 2026. 

States don’t have the discretion to reduce benefits to all recipients. If they can’t pay themselves, they either need to find ways to reduce the number of eligible recipients or leave the program entirely.

In the 2024 federal fiscal year, Californians received $12 billion in CalFresh benefits. 

 The law passed despite warnings from Democratic and Republican federal, state and local officials that it would put a heavy financial burden on states and push vulnerable groups off of benefits. Republican lawmakers who supported the bill said it weeds out fraud and abuse, while critics say it will harm vulnerable populations that depend on the benefits.

While it is unclear how the future shift in costs to the state will trickle down to recipients, the eligibility changes are active now. 

“It’s a harmful provision,” said Gina Plata-Nino, a former Biden adviser on nutrition policy who’s now the SNAP deputy director at the D.C.-based nonprofit Food Research & Action Center. 

“Especially when you think about rural and remote areas where the majority of folks who are working part-time, one of the main reasons they do it is because they don’t have enough childcare,” she said, adding that unpaid caretaking work won’t count towards the hours needed to receive benefits. 

Nonprofits food assistance groups say SNAP is by far the most important provider of food assistance – one that will be difficult to replace.

“The San Diego Food Bank is already seeing a year-over-year increase in the number of people seeking food assistance,” said Karissa Wilburn, a spokesperson for the nonprofit. “This trend is expected to accelerate as federal investments in safety net programs continue to decline.”

The money from SNAP is important to the wider local economy, experts say. 

“It brings billions of dollars into California,” Plata-Nino said. “Those dollars translate into local taxes because individuals are purchasing at local stores. … If a large percentage of the population, of their customer base, all of a sudden drops because they don’t have the resources to shop there anymore, that store owner will no longer be able to keep their doors open.”

SNAP costs passed to states in 2026

California is one of 10 states where county governments, not the state, administer SNAP. With the increased red tape from the new eligibility requirements, San Diego County has estimated the total cost to provide the benefits will go up. 

Before passing a budget at their most recent meeting last month, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed a measure that told staff to come back with a report on how they can respond to the federal funding cuts. The most costly is expected to be the changes to CalFresh, especially with new eligibility requirements that will drive up the cost to administer the program. 

Starting in fall of 2026, states also will be on the hook for paying 75% of the cost to administer the SNAP program instead of 50%, what they previously have paid. 

Then, in 2027, states will be forced to start paying a portion of the cost of the food itself. The federal government previously provided all of the funding for the food provided by SNAP and covered part of the costs of administering the program. Under the new law, states will be responsible for paying based on the percentage of program benefits over- or underpaid to recipients in 2025 or 2026.

All states have errors in the distribution of SNAP benefits, with the highest for 2024 being Alaska at 25% and the lowest being South Dakota with about 3%. California’s error rate for 2024, the most recent data available, was about 11%. That would put California in the tough position of having to pay the highest penalty — by covering 15% of the food costs, which is almost $2 billion. Only six states, each with error rates of below 6%, will not incur penalties. 

In order to secure Republican votes, lawmakers added a last-minute carve out allowing states with especially high error rates such as Alaska to defer the penalty payments. California’s most recent error rate was too low to qualify for the delayed penalties.

Error rates tend to fluctuate, meaning states could be left scrambling to fill funding holes for the program year to year as they end up in different penalty brackets.