Alabama Senate committee approves bill excluding soda, candy from SNAP benefits

An Alabama Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would prohibit food assistance recipients from using their benefits to purchase certain sodas and sugary processed foods.

SB 57, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, is similar to those approved for 18 other states, including Tennessee and Florida by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee approved the bill on an 11-5 vote with two amendments. 

“It would reduce the products that can be purchased in a pretty finite way. But in my mind, when we bounce between the third and fifth most obese state in the country, it seems like it is good policy,” Orr said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alabama ranked fourth in the nation for adult obesity in 2024.

The bill does not change the amount of benefits distributed to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. It requires the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) to request a waiver from the USDA to exclude candy and soda from the list of eligible items recipients can purchase with their benefits. 

The waivers, approved by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are part of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative.

A message seeking comment from DHR was left Wednesday afternoon.

The committee adopted two amendments. The first narrows the definition of soda as “Beverages that list, as the first two ingredients, any combination of: (i) carbonated water; and (ii) sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, or high fructose corn syrup.”

It was adopted unanimously.

The second amendment redefined candy to clarify that baked goods, jams or other sugary ingredients do not fall under the prohibited category. It also requires the Alabama Department of Revenue to keep track of a list of products that are not eligible for purchase.

Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, was the only Republican to vote against the amendment, and later the bill, because the list of prohibited products would change often.

“I just don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze,” Jones said. “Coke, Pepsi, they come out with seasonal products every quarter. There are different things throughout the Christmas holidays, somebody’s going to have to be responsible to scan that all or put that all into a list.”

Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said the bill was paternalistic, and said it was wrong to single out SNAP recipients for wanting to buy a soda or a treat every once in a while.

“We all need to be eating better, myself included, but this is very paternalistic to number one, assume that people that are on these benefits don’t know how to make the correct decisions for their children, and then why single this group out?” Coleman said.

Orr said that prohibiting low-income Alabamians from buying unhealthy foods with taxpayer dollars would lead to that population being healthier. 

“We’ve got an obesity problem among children and adults. It seems like it’s good policy to say the taxpayers shouldn’t be funding sugar type drinks, etc, that are contributing to statewide obesity levels,” Orr said.

Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, said that instead of legislating what foods SNAP recipients can buy, the Legislature should look at the social determinants of health, including access to public transportation and eliminating food deserts.

“My concern, as someone who represents a food desert and one of the poorest areas in the state, it’s important for me that we do not legislate dignity away from Alabamians,” Stewart said. “This legislation would create a two tier system. You get to have this. You don’t get to have that because you’re poor.”

The bill moves to the full Senate.