Cortez Masto, Three Square food bank, warn about worsening food insecurity in Nevada

By Jeniffer Solis

Nevada Current

An estimated 131,000 Nevadans could lose food and nutrition benefits under the recently-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill,” leaving struggling food banks to cover the growing need.

President Trump’s tax and spending bill made significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including shifting more of the cost burden to states while also changing eligibility requirements for beneficiaries.

Those changes have left the state with a projected $19 million budget shortfall for the program next year. The state is already $244,000 short this year after the bill required states to pay for immediate access to a federal income verification system that was previously free to use.

“Instead of giving more resources to the states so they can shoulder that burden, it actually takes resources away from states. While states figure out how to close that gap, organizations like Three Square are left with really too much uncertainty, and that is the problem,” said Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto during an event at Three Square of Southern Nevada Friday.

The food bank has experienced an 8 percent year-over-year increase in food assistance requests, with a more substantial rise observed in the past month.

Beth Martino, president and CEO of Three Square, said while the food bank is working to meet that demand it can not replace the assistance SNAP provides families.

“SNAP is the most effective hunger relief program that we have in Nevada and around the country. The work that Three Square does to put food on people’s table is incredibly important, but for every meal that three square distributes, SNAP provides nine,” Martino said.

Every month SNAP provides food assistance to around 505,000 Nevadans — 15.5 percent of the total population. Nevada has one of the highest participation rates in the nation, but those who need the benefits may soon be pushed out.

Under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the federal government is also expanding work requirements to qualify for SNAP assistance. Able-bodied adults ages 18-64 (previously 18-54) must now work or participate in job training for 80 hours each month.

Several groups that were previously exempt from those work requirements are no longer exempt, including parents with children 14 and older, veterans, those who have aged out of foster care, people experiencing homelessness, and those living in areas with limited job openings.

“This law makes devastating cuts to food assistance across the country, and right here in Nevada,” Cortez Masto said, noting that nationwide “it could lead to 40 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors, and 1.2 million veterans across our country losing access to food.”

Cortez Masto emphasized that fewer children in Nevada will be automatically eligible for free school meals as families lose SNAP and Medicaid benefits under the Republican tax and spending bill.

“These changes to SNAP could make thousands of Nevada kids ineligible for free school lunches that they rely on during the school year,” she said.

The Just One Project in Nevada works with state officials and nonprofits to help people maintain their SNAP benefits through case management. Brooke Neubauer, CEO of The Just One Project, said they served more than 300,000 clients in 2024 and expect to serve more.

“The enrollment is going to become more challenging and the reenrollment process is going to be more challenging with the new requirements,” Neubauer said. “We are ready to create programs to help support these people.”

Another major impact of the law is a change in how much states would need to pay to maintain the program depending on error rates.

The federal government previously covered all of a state’s SNAP benefits. But the new law requires states with an error rate — the percentage of benefits that are over or underpaid — at or above 6 percent to cover between 5 percent and 15 percent of total benefit costs starting in 2028.

Nevada’s error rate currently sits at around 7 percent. If that error rate continued into 2028, Nevada would be penalized by having to pay 5 percent of benefit costs, which would be equivalent to $55 million annually, according to past data.

“It’s just unfair, and it’s cruel. At a time when food insecurity in our state is on the rise, groceries are increasingly unaffordable, and it’s harder and harder to make ends meet, what we should be focusing on is how to ensure that our hard work for families and their kids have everything they need, and we shouldn’t be taking things away from them now,” Cortez Masto said.

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Jeniffer Solis was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before graduating in 2017 with a B.A in Journalism and Media Studies.