Rep. Linda Duba, D-Sioux Falls, listens to testimony during a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting during the 2024 legislative session. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
A bill to include South Dakota in a summer food program for children advanced to the next step of the legislative process Wednesday in Pierre, while legislation to expand eligibility for reduced price school meals was rejected.
Lawmakers moved a bill forward that addresses the federal government’s Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children . It provides eligible low-income families with $40 per child, per month in preloaded cards to buy groceries during the summer months.
Food is covered by the federal government, but administrative costs for the program are split with participating states.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration declined to participate in the program.
State seeks sponsors for federal food program after declining separate funding source
The bill from Rep. Linda Duba, a Democrat from Sioux Falls, would require state officials to take steps necessary to begin participating in the program by 2025. She said 36 states and several territories have opted into the program for 2024.