Montana considers banning soda and candy from SNAP, joining national wave of legislation

Some lawmakers are setting their sights on changes to Montana’s food assistance program to curb obesity, which currently impacts about one in every three people in the state.

Two bills are working their way through the Legislature — one on the House side, another in the Senate — that would modify the groceries that can be purchased with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), an effort to move people away from buying sodas and sugary snacks with the public benefit and instead opt for produce and other healthy options.

Senate Bill 354 from Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, which passed the Senate last month and is awaiting a vote from the House Health and Human Services Committee, would prohibit SNAP dollars from being used on candy and sweetened beverages.

The Billings Republican said the issue, though out of his normal wheelhouse, has struck him personally. He coaches youth swim teams in Roundup, where he says he’s been able to see the insidious impact of climbing obesity rates on young people.

“You can identify the health problems that are happening in young people at a young age,” Zolnikov said. “It’s just so obvious.”

House Bill 902 from Rep. Sherry Essman, also a Republican from Billings, would limit SNAP spending only to fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry and fish; and dairy products. The bill would also bar children under age 16 from using the debit cards without parental supervision.

“I am kind of hoping that the days of pop and donuts on a SNAP card are coming to a rapid end,” Essman said to members of the House health committee on Tuesday.

Lawmakers on the committee advanced SB 902 on a narrow 11-10 vote on Tuesday.

Sometimes referred to as food stamps, SNAP helps around 80,000 low-income Montanans each month afford groceries. The Department of Public Health and Human Services issues a debit card loaded with a small stipend to be used on food at supermarkets, farmers markets and convenience stores. In February 2025, the state doled out a total of about $13.5 million — almost entirely federal funds — to 41,722 households through the cards.

A 2016 analysis from the United States Department of Agriculture revealed that about 9% of total SNAP expenditures were used to purchase sweetened beverages, second only to the meat, seafood and poultry category. Salty snacks and candy accounted for a far lower share, about 3% and 2%, respectively.

Zolnikov hopes that his SB 354 would incentivize grocers to carry a larger variety of nutrient-dense options and send a signal to major junk food brands that they can’t market to low-income earners unfettered.

It wasn’t a huge surprise, then, when the bills received pushback from industry heavy hitters such as the Montana Retail Association and the Montana Beverage Association, who said sifting through the tens of thousands of food items available on the market to determine what’s eligible would be burdensome for retailers and that restrictions could cut into sales.

The Montana Food Bank Network said the new roadblocks might disincentivize business owners from accepting food stamps and have the unintended consequence of shrinking the options for SNAP beneficiaries.

“To imply that families aren’t already making conscious choices about what they are buying is disingenuous and simply not true,” said Kiera Condon from the Food Bank Network.

Already, SNAP benefits can’t be spent on tobacco, alcohol, or nonfood items. Most hot or prepared foods are excluded as well.

Even though most legislators agreed with the general idea of supporting healthy nutrition habits, the idea of more guardrails to a public benefit program created heartburn for some.

“It’s a parent’s responsibility to regulate what their kids are doing and eating,” said Sen. Sara Novak, D-Anaconda. “I don’t think it’s our place to infringe on that.”

SB 354 and HB 902 require approval from the federal government to enact the program. The bills would direct DPHHS to apply for that waiver.

At the public urging of the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., at least 10 states are considering similar legislation.

For decades, whether to exclude "junk food" from state SNAP programs has been hotly contested. Should the Trump White House opt to approve these waivers, it would be the first time the federal government has signed off on SNAP junk food bans.

Essman and Zolnikov both expressed optimism that waivers for each of their bills would be approved given Kennedy’s comments and other remarks from the administration.

The two bills are unlikely to both be signed into law, but they can continue to march through the legislative process for the time being.