[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4855 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4855
To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a
study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban under
section 115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 on participation in the supplemental
nutrition assistance program by drug felons, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 25, 2023
Mr. Crawford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a
study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban under
section 115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 on participation in the supplemental
nutrition assistance program by drug felons, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``SNAP Ban Study Act''.
SEC. 2. STUDY OF SNAP BAN AND WAIVER PROVISIONS AFFECTING DRUG FELONS.
(a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall
conduct a study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban
and waiver provisions regarding participation in the supplemental
nutrition assistance program by drug felons, as in effect under section
115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 286a).
(b) Elements of the Study.--The study conducted under subsection
(a) shall--
(1) identify the full range of options States have
implemented with respect to the supplemental nutrition
assistance program ban, including--
(A) implementing the full ban;
(B) using their discretionary power provided in the
law to opt out of the ban partially, including the
various different modifications States have made or
completely repealing the ban; and
(C) when each of those States has made substantive
revisions to their laws in this area over the past 15
years;
(2) for each group of those convicted of felony use, felony
distribution, and felony trafficking offenses, the rates, 5 and
10 years after release from the incarceration that triggered
the supplemental nutrition assistance program ban, of--
(A) subsequent arrest for one or more felonies;
(B) subsequent conviction for one or more felonies;
and
(C) return to prison for such offenders;
(3) measurements of the well-being of released drug felons
who would be eligible for supplemental nutrition assistance
program in the absence of the ban imposed by section 115 of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 286a) and substantive differences, if any,
that might be identified by tracking the full range of State
implementations of such section from a full ban to--
(A) to various conditions required of drug felons
to receive supplemental nutrition assistance program
benefits short of a full ban, to a full waiver, and how
otherwise eligible drug felons in each jurisdiction
had, after 3, 5, and 10 years;
(B) changes with respect to recidivism, as
described in paragraph (1);
(C) family formation, including marriage rates;
(D) average hours worked per week for those who are
non-disabled and between the ages of 18 through 64;
(E) changes in individual and family income;
(F) changes in educational attainment; and
(G) other factors that the Comptroller General of
the United States considers worthy of study;
(4) how the various impacts of such effects play out
separately for those convicted of felony use, possession, and
trafficking offenses;
(5) the additional costs expected to be borne by the
Federal and State governments if such a ban was made unlawful
or such section was repealed;
(6) the amount of unpaid restitution, legal judgments and
costs, and Federal and State taxes outstanding by the average
post-incarceration drug felon;
(7) the average total economic cost to each surviving
child, parent, spouse and sibling of those killed by misuse or
abuse of a controlled substance at 5, 10, and 15 years after
that death;
(8) the utilization rate of supplemental nutrition
assistance program by surviving children, parents, spouses, and
siblings of those killed by misuse or abuse of a controlled
substance at baseline, 5, 10, and 15 years after that death,
compared to the rest of the population, both in raw numbers and
after adjusting for confounding factors;
(9) the extent to which programs assisting victims of
violent crime could be enhanced if amounts identified in (5),
above, were instead directed to State violent crime assistance
programs;
(10) an assessment of the levels of evidence used in
research for this report and in the most-cited existing
research related to supplemental nutrition assistance program
eligibility by released drug felons and closely related issues;
(11) an assessment of the ability of social science and
economic research to determine if any apparent material
differences in various measures are persuasive, or are too
prone to noise and confounding, as those terms are used in the
fields of medical and other research, to be the basis for
legislative action; and
(12) any other matters the Comptroller General considers to
be appropriate for evaluating the strengths and shortcomings of
the existing supplemental nutrition assistance program lifetime
ban and waiver contained in such section.
(c) Report.--
(1) Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
submit a report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry of
the Senate,, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture of the House
of Representatives, that contains the results of such study,
including the findings and conclusions of the study.
(2) Such report shall also be made available to the public
on the website of the Government Accountability Office.
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