TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill just recently signed into law by Gov. Ron Desantis will require many of the nearly 3 million Floridians who get SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, to complete a certain number of hours of training each month. 

If they don't meet the requirements, they could lose those benefits that help pay for their food.

What You Need To Know

  • A bill just recently signed into law by Gov. Ron Desantis will require many of the nearly 3 million Floridians who get SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, to complete a certain number of hours of training each month

  • If recipients don't meet the requirements, they could lose benefits that help pay for their food

  • Part of the new law requires recipients aged 18–59 with no one under 18 in their household to complete a minimum of 80 hours a month of an employment workforce training program

  • DCF rolled out the expanded requirements in 2023 after the federal government made changes to the program

Part of the new law requires recipients aged 18–59 with no one under 18 in their household to complete a minimum of 80 hours a month of an employment workforce training program.  The Florida Department of Children and Families rolled out the expanded requirements in 2023 after the federal government made changes to the program, but the new law will make it harder for those expanded requirements to be lifted during a disaster or a time of economic hardship.

Eimear Roy worries she might lose her SNAP benefits because she doesn’t believe she’ll be able to fulfill the new requirements. She says the benefits allow her to still eat healthy.

Suffering from long COVID, diabetes and heart problems, Roy said she doesn’t qualify for Medicaid benefits in Florida.

“According to the state, I’m medically complex, but I don’t get Medicaid, I don’t get SSI – I’ve been rejected for everything," she said. "So the only real medicine I have right now is to eat healthy."

Roy said she doesn’t think her health would allow her to complete all of the hours required to maintain benefits.

“The only way I’m able to speak to you right now is because I had a beta-blocker earlier so my heart would regulate and my breathing wouldn’t be too heavy," she said. "So there are days where I can hardly move my joints — and I can’t get medical care right now."

Roy said she has tried to find part-time work, but with her health challenges — and having to care for family members with disabilities — she worried about failing to meet the new requirements and losing the assistance she now gets for food.

“I’m clinging on to life, and I’ll absolutely keep fighting — the fighting spirit I have," she said. "But God, cut citizens a bit of a break."