HB 400 Moves to the Senate!

HB400 requests state funding to support the Double SNAP Dollars (DSD) Program, which helps food-insecure Montanans afford more fresh, local produce by doubling the purchasing power of their SNAP benefits. For every dollar spent on SNAP-eligible foods at participating farmers markets or farm shares, SNAP recipients receive an extra dollar to spend on fresh, local produce. 

Last week, the bill passed through the House so it now moves on to the Senate! Next up, it will be considered by the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety committee. You can track its progress through the bill lookup on the Montana Legislature website.  

Here’s how you can help push HB 400
through the rest of the legislative process!

1. Find your Senator at leg.mt.gov/map/
2. Check your Senator’s committee assignments. Does s/he sit on the
   Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety committee?
   • If yes: Call or Email your Senator and urge him/her to support HB 400. You can use our Double SNAP Dollars Fact Sheet to come up with your talking points.
   • If no: Leave a message or email for the full Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety committee at leg.mt.gov/web-messaging/. Choose to send your message to a Committee and pick
     Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety committee from the dropdown. You can use our Double SNAP Dollars Fact Sheet to come up with your talking points.
3. Share this blog post with fellow supporters and urge them to contact their Senator!

HB400 is an important investment in Montana families and farmers. This state funding will enable Double SNAP Dollars to expand at current sites and to communities across the state. This means more Montanans will have access to fresh, local foods and more hard-working Montana farmers will get a financial boost! We know Double SNAP Dollars has a major impact, but we need to partner with the state in order for that impact to grow and make a bigger difference for Montana.

Here are some of the ways Double SNAP Dollars has already made an impact:

• Since 2015, over 3,000 Montanans used the Double SNAP Dollars program, resulting in $350,000 spent on local foods and increasing farmers’ income.

• Since the implementation of the program, farmers market SNAP sales in Missoula increased by 13%. Rural markets saw a sales increase of nearly 100%.

• Daily fruit and vegetable consumption among most surveyed DSD customers increased because of their participation in the program.

HB 400 has gone through all the steps listed below in the House. Please help it move through the same steps in the Senate!

Interested in learning more about advocacy and how the state legislature works? Check out this Advocacy Toolkit from the Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger for some great info on advocating for bills in the 2019 Montana State Legislature Session!