By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansas’ request to ban candy and soft drinks from being purchased with food assistance dollars has yet to be approved, while other states’ similar restrictions are expected to go into effect Jan. 1.
Lawmakers say the goal of the ban is to reduce obesity rates and risks by eliminating the option to buy soft drinks and candy for a specific demographic — low-income families receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Republican lawmakers at a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency were anxious to see Kansas’ request for restrictions approved.
But Carla Whiteside-Hicks, the economic and employment services director for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, described during the committee meeting certain roadblocks.
Among them, she said, Kansas’ process is different from the process in other states. It’s more complex, she said, largely because of the nebulous definitions of soft drinks and candy in a new state law.
Bans of varying severity have been approved and are expected to go into effect on the first of the year in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia. Some states restrict soft drinks, soda, candy or energy drinks, or a combination of the four.
Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican and chair of the committee, argued other states’ bans aren’t inherently simpler than the one in Kansas. Nevertheless, the definitions are important, she said.
“It sounds simple when we say pop and candy, but we know those details, those definitions matter,” she said
The state sent an initial request for the restriction to the U.S.Department of Agriculture on April 2. The proposal for a ban began as a bill, which passed both chambers during the 2025 legislative session but was vetoed on April 4 by Gov. Laura Kelly, who called it “simply wrong” and expressed concern for the law’s potential to hurt Kansas families and businesses. Instead of fully overriding the veto, Republican lawmakers inserted the policy into the state budget.
The provision withheld $1.8 million designated for a summertime food assistance program for families with school-age children. The provision required the secretary for the Kansas Department for Children and Families to request the restriction on candy and soft drinks before the department could access the funds.
Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said during the meeting he didn’t understand why complexity was holding up Kansas’ request.
“And is there not any kind of national guidance considering this was part of a national policy agenda?” Shane said.
Kansas’ request is specific to Kansas statute and must work within the bounds of state law, Whiteside-Hicks said.
Upon first submitting the request to the USDA, Whiteside-Hicks said, she immediately assembled an internal team to guide the process of implementing the restrictions and measure their effectiveness.
“It was quickly evident that we do not have internal capacity to meet all of the requirements of having our waiver request approved,” she said.
No one on her team had the skillset to create an evaluation plan, she said, so the agency is soliciting proposals from third parties to do the work instead.
In Kansas, a monthly average of nearly 187,000 people in more than 93,500 households receive food assistance benefits. The average monthly benefit per household is around $452, according to USDA data from fiscal year 2023.
It isn’t clear how much it will cost to develop the new restrictions. Typically, the agency would undergo an analysis before submitting a restriction request to the federal government, but that didn’t happen this time, Whiteside-Hicks said.
Kansas officials targeted an effective date for restrictions for 18 months after the approval date — if it is approved.
