The New Jersey state Senate moments ago voted 38-0 on to approve a bill that would raise the SNAP benefit floor from $50 to $95, in perpetuity.

As recently reported by TLS, beginning in March, all households eligible for SNAP will begin receiving a minimum $50 monthly benefit following the end of federal SNAP emergency allotments in February.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SNAP households have benefited from emergency allotments from the federal government, which provided households with higher monthly food assistance benefits.

However, the recently signed Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 ends SNAP emergency allotments on February 28, 2023.

This means that, by March 2023, benefits for all SNAP households in New Jersey will return to normal amounts.

But, under a new minimum benefit program signed into law by Governor Murphy, if a SNAP household was approved for less than $50 in SNAP benefits ($23 is the minimum federal SNAP benefit), they will receive their regular monthly benefit plus an additional state supplement to bring them to $50.

For example, if a single-person household was determined eligible for $23, they will receive their regular monthly benefit of $23 and an additional state supplement of $27 to bring them to $50.

Now, according to this new bill, SNAP recipients will see the minimum allowance be raised to $95 per month, similar to the minimum amount people were receiving during the pandemic.

The bill was approved by the Assembly last week and now heads to Governor Murphy’s desk for his expected signature.

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