Colorado along with 19 other states and Washington, D.C., on Monday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins arguing that the federal agency’s demand that they hand over personal information — including social security numbers and home addresses — of individuals who rely on a government food assistance program is unconstitutional.
The USDA in May told states to provide personal information about people who have applied for or received aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, which helps close to 615,000 Colorado residents regularly access food.
The federal agency has indicated it could withhold funding from states that do not comply. Colorado is slated to get $96 million this year to implement SNAP, according to a news release from Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office.
The federal agency’s threat to withhold SNAP funding would create widespread hunger in Colorado and put lives at risk, Weiser said.
“It’s going to jeopardize people’s health and their lives,” he said. “It would be manifestly cruel and wrong to withhold this money for people who need it for food security and for their ability to live both healthy lives and stay alive.”
States who joined the lawsuit argue the federal agency is unlawful in requesting the information of people who use SNAP in a variety of ways. Among them, the demand violates the federal Privacy Act, which guarantees sensitive information will remain private.
“Those Coloradans (who use SNAP benefits) have an expectation of privacy that their personal data will be protected,” Weiser told The Colorado Sun. “We take that seriously in Colorado.”
Weiser said the USDA’s request goes against the country’s long-held tradition of allowing states to manage programs that involve private information — running elections, distributing driver’s licenses, managing food assistance programs and Medicaid. It’s unclear why the federal government wants personal details of people who need SNAP and what they would do with that information.
He said he is committed to making sure that information collected is honored in the way it was intended to be used and will not be “commandeered” by other people.
Weiser noted that states asked the USDA for a discussion about potential safeguards to ensure people’s data remains protected as required by law but didn’t get a response.
“That’s not the way the law works,” Weiser said. “It’s not, ‘We get to do whatever we want and you should trust us.’”
The demand also violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act, the plaintiffs say. That law requires the federal government to provide advance notice and an explanation for its decisions and take time to collect public feedback.
Additionally, states that signed onto the lawsuit allege the USDA’s attempt to withhold funds violates the Spending Clause, which grants Congress control over how to use federal funds.
“This is a request that we don’t see as within their authority to ask for,” Weiser said. “They don’t have a statutory foundation for this. They’re acting outside the law. That is yet another concern.”
States suing the USDA are asking the court to make sure SNAP funding is distributed as promised and that the federal government does not try to leverage that funding as a threat in order to access information it is not authorized to have, Weiser said.
States that are also part of the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.