Florida taxpayers are about to feel the financial squeeze from sweeping federal changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A new Florida TaxWatch report reveals that provisions in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” could force the state to pay more than $1 billion annually in new SNAP costs—at precisely the wrong time.
High Error Rates Meet New Federal Penalties
The DeSantis Administration has one of the worst SNAP payment error rates in the nation at 15.13%, more than double the national average. Under the new federal law signed in July 2025, this dismal performance will now come with a steep price tag.
- “Without improvement, Florida will be required to use its own taxpayer dollars to share the cost of SNAP benefits,” the report warns. States with error rates above 10 percent must now pay 15 percent of all SNAP benefit costs—a radical departure from the previous system, where the federal government covered 100%.
- If this policy had been in effect during FY2023, Florida would have paid $954 million in benefits alone, plus an additional $205 million in administrative costs.
The financial burden arrives as Florida faces projected budget deficits of $1.5 billion in FY2028 and $6.6 billion in FY2029. “These projected increases come at a particularly bad time,” the report notes, highlighting the collision between new federal mandates and state fiscal constraints.
Why this matters: Currently, roughly one in eight Floridians—approximately 3.1 million residents—relies on SNAP benefits each month. Miami-Dade County alone has 376,336 households receiving assistance.
Dig Deeper: About 60,000 residents in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties rely on food stamps, but that only touches on the number who barely make ends meet. In a recent interview with Inweekly, Manna Food Bank Executive Director DeDe Flounlaker shared her organization dropped off nearly 20,000 pounds of food between the military bases at Corry Station and Whiting Field. Over 30% of the recipients never needed food help before, but that changed while on furlough during the government shutdown.
What Changed? Six Major Policy Shifts
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act restructures SNAP through several provisions:
- Matching fund requirements that penalize states with high error rates
- Administrative cost sharing is increasing from 50% to 75% state responsibility
- Stricter work requirements removing exemptions for homeless individuals, veterans, and adults aged 55-64
- Elimination of automatic SNAP-Ed funding, closing successful nutrition education programs
- Restrictions on non-citizen eligibility
- Limits on the USDA’s ability to adjust the Thrifty Food Plan
TaxWatch’s Outsourcing Solution
Florida TaxWatch identifies an opportunity in President Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order 14192, which authorizes greater flexibility in staffing arrangements for SNAP administration.
- “Without bringing in outside assistance, it is highly unlikely that the state of Florida can reduce the SNAP error rate to sufficient levels as to avoid significant financial penalties,” the report emphasizes.
According to TaxWatch, private contractors offer several advantages: specialized expertise from former federal employees, superior technology platforms, staffing flexibility to handle demand surges, and better risk management. During the COVID-19 pandemic, contractors processed reemployment assistance claims when state systems were overwhelmed.
Quality Control Failures Across the Board
Under Gov. DeSantis, Florida’s SNAP administration problems extend beyond payment errors. The state ranks 47th nationally in application processing timeliness, with only 64.38% of applications processed on time. The case and procedural error rate stands at 54.99%—well above the national average of 43.81%.
- “Florida TaxWatch urges the state to take immediate action to procure a contractor to assist in reforming SNAP in Florida to reduce payment error rates and implement the new federal SNAP work requirements to avoid penalties,” the report concludes.
As with the state school voucher system, state lawmakers must rescue the DeSantis administration and overhaul SNAP before penalties take effect in FY2028, long after DeSantis leaves office. The stakes are clear: reform now or face billion-dollar consequences that Florida taxpayers simply cannot afford.
Read Oh SNAP report.
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