This bill mandates that states raise SNAP administrator pay to federal levels and guarantees 100% federal funding for associated administrative personnel costs, provided the funds supplement, rather than replace, existing state spending.
Ben Luján
Senator
NM
The SNAP Administrator Retention Act of 2025 aims to improve SNAP administration by requiring states to raise staff wages to match federal pay scales. Once approved, the federal government will fully fund 100% of the state agency's administrative personnel costs for SNAP. This funding is contingent on states using the money to supplement, not supplant, their existing administrative staffing budgets.
SNAP Staff Pay Floor Mandated: Federal Government Offers 100% Reimbursement to States
The SNAP Administrator Retention Act of 2025 is aiming to fix a long-standing issue in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): the high turnover rate among the staff who actually run the program. This bill mandates that states must pay their SNAP administrative staff at least the equivalent of what comparable federal employees earn. This isn't a one-time raise; those wages must be updated annually to keep pace with federal pay increases and local cost adjustments.
The Trade-Off: Higher Pay for Full Federal Coverage
Here’s the big incentive for states: if they agree to implement these new, higher wage standards and submit a detailed personnel plan to the Secretary of Agriculture for approval, the federal government will cover 100 percent of the administrative personnel costs for SNAP. Think about that—the feds are offering to pick up the entire tab for state workers who process applications, manage benefits, and handle the day-to-day operations of food assistance. The idea is simple: better pay leads to better retention, which in turn means better service for the millions of families relying on SNAP.
The Catch in the Fine Print
While 100% federal funding sounds like a massive win for state budgets, there's a crucial rule buried in the bill (Section 2, Rules for Using the Federal Money). States cannot use this new federal cash to simply replace the money they were already spending on SNAP staffing in fiscal year 2024. The federal funding must be used to add to, not substitute, the state’s existing administrative costs. Essentially, the money must go toward covering existing costs while maintaining the state's 2024 funding baseline, or toward hiring additional full-time staff above the 2024 headcount.
What This Means for Everyday Life
For the people who actually work in SNAP offices, this is a huge deal. It means higher, more stable wages benchmarked against federal standards, which should make those jobs more attractive and reduce the constant cycle of training new employees. If you’ve ever had to deal with a government agency with high turnover, you know the frustration of constantly talking to a new person who doesn't know the rules—this bill aims to fix that by professionalizing the workforce.
However, for state budget directors, that "add to, not replace" rule is the major sticking point. If a state has high turnover and needs to hire replacements, they can use the federal money. But if they want to expand their services or simply maintain their current staffing levels while complying with the new, higher wage floor, they might be forced to dedicate new state funds to administrative costs just to meet the “add to” requirement, especially if they can't justify hiring more staff than they had in 2024. The implementation hinges on the Secretary of Agriculture’s approval of the state’s detailed wage plan, adding a layer of federal oversight to state personnel decisions.