[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4855 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4855

  To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a 
   study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban under 
    section 115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
    Reconciliation Act of 1996 on participation in the supplemental 
  nutrition assistance program by drug felons, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2023

 Mr. Crawford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a 
   study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban under 
    section 115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
    Reconciliation Act of 1996 on participation in the supplemental 
  nutrition assistance program by drug felons, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``SNAP Ban Study Act''.

SEC. 2. STUDY OF SNAP BAN AND WAIVER PROVISIONS AFFECTING DRUG FELONS.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study to evaluate the effects of the post-incarceration ban 
and waiver provisions regarding participation in the supplemental 
nutrition assistance program by drug felons, as in effect under section 
115 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 
Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 286a).
    (b) Elements of the Study.--The study conducted under subsection 
(a) shall--
            (1) identify the full range of options States have 
        implemented with respect to the supplemental nutrition 
        assistance program ban, including--
                    (A) implementing the full ban;
                    (B) using their discretionary power provided in the 
                law to opt out of the ban partially, including the 
                various different modifications States have made or 
                completely repealing the ban; and
                    (C) when each of those States has made substantive 
                revisions to their laws in this area over the past 15 
                years;
            (2) for each group of those convicted of felony use, felony 
        distribution, and felony trafficking offenses, the rates, 5 and 
        10 years after release from the incarceration that triggered 
        the supplemental nutrition assistance program ban, of--
                    (A) subsequent arrest for one or more felonies;
                    (B) subsequent conviction for one or more felonies; 
                and
                    (C) return to prison for such offenders;
            (3) measurements of the well-being of released drug felons 
        who would be eligible for supplemental nutrition assistance 
        program in the absence of the ban imposed by section 115 of the 
        Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 
        of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 286a) and substantive differences, if any, 
        that might be identified by tracking the full range of State 
        implementations of such section from a full ban to--
                    (A) to various conditions required of drug felons 
                to receive supplemental nutrition assistance program 
                benefits short of a full ban, to a full waiver, and how 
                otherwise eligible drug felons in each jurisdiction 
                had, after 3, 5, and 10 years;
                    (B) changes with respect to recidivism, as 
                described in paragraph (1);
                    (C) family formation, including marriage rates;
                    (D) average hours worked per week for those who are 
                non-disabled and between the ages of 18 through 64;
                    (E) changes in individual and family income;
                    (F) changes in educational attainment; and
                    (G) other factors that the Comptroller General of 
                the United States considers worthy of study;
            (4) how the various impacts of such effects play out 
        separately for those convicted of felony use, possession, and 
        trafficking offenses;
            (5) the additional costs expected to be borne by the 
        Federal and State governments if such a ban was made unlawful 
        or such section was repealed;
            (6) the amount of unpaid restitution, legal judgments and 
        costs, and Federal and State taxes outstanding by the average 
        post-incarceration drug felon;
            (7) the average total economic cost to each surviving 
        child, parent, spouse and sibling of those killed by misuse or 
        abuse of a controlled substance at 5, 10, and 15 years after 
        that death;
            (8) the utilization rate of supplemental nutrition 
        assistance program by surviving children, parents, spouses, and 
        siblings of those killed by misuse or abuse of a controlled 
        substance at baseline, 5, 10, and 15 years after that death, 
        compared to the rest of the population, both in raw numbers and 
        after adjusting for confounding factors;
            (9) the extent to which programs assisting victims of 
        violent crime could be enhanced if amounts identified in (5), 
        above, were instead directed to State violent crime assistance 
        programs;
            (10) an assessment of the levels of evidence used in 
        research for this report and in the most-cited existing 
        research related to supplemental nutrition assistance program 
        eligibility by released drug felons and closely related issues;
            (11) an assessment of the ability of social science and 
        economic research to determine if any apparent material 
        differences in various measures are persuasive, or are too 
        prone to noise and confounding, as those terms are used in the 
        fields of medical and other research, to be the basis for 
        legislative action; and
            (12) any other matters the Comptroller General considers to 
        be appropriate for evaluating the strengths and shortcomings of 
        the existing supplemental nutrition assistance program lifetime 
        ban and waiver contained in such section.
    (c) Report.--
            (1) Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 
        submit a report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
        Senate, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry of 
        the Senate,, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
        Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
        of Representatives, that contains the results of such study, 
        including the findings and conclusions of the study.
            (2) Such report shall also be made available to the public 
        on the website of the Government Accountability Office.
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