The West Virginia House of Delegates has shelved a Senate bill that would severely restrict the types food that people could purchase with food stamps.
Members of the House Health Committee discussed the legislation (SB 626) for nearly 30 minutes Thursday before voting to table the bill. The House is not expected to take up the legislation again this session, which ends March 12.
The bill would have required the state to seek a waiver from the federal government to limit benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to healthier food purchases approved under the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program.
The federal government has denied similar waiver requests from other states.
"No state has been able to secure a waiver like this," said Jeremiah Samples, deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Resources.
SNAP benefits can be used to purchase almost any kind of food - including junk food items like soda pop and potato chips - but not alcohol or prepared foods that would be eaten in a store.
The WIC program has much stricter nutritional requirements. WIC-approved foods include milk, eggs, beans and whole-food items.
The federal government already is working on changes to the SNAP program that would make healthier foods available to more SNAP recipients, Samples said.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.