A state audit found that as much as $1.2 million in food assistance payments could have been made to people living outside Kansas, although that would account for less than 1% of state spending on the program.

An audit of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program usage, conducted by the Legislative Post Audit Department, found that between $700,000 and $1.2 million in federal fiscal years 2023 and 2024 may have been paid to recipients living outside Kansas.

However, due to federal regulations, the Kansas Department for Children and Families can’t ask SNAP recipients to notify them within 10 days if they change their address, the report said.

“Because SNAP recipients are not required to report a change of address immediately, DCF can do little to proactively intervene,” the audit said. “DCF officials told us they monitor for unusual transactions and can talk with recipients if they see unusual patterns.”

DCF said in a response that it actively monitors for patterns indicating someone is regularly purchasing items out of state on their electronic benefit, or EBT, card. They require recipients to report change of address and, since October 2025, proof of address at every six-month certification.

LPA staff said that unless a recipient knowingly misreports his or her address at the six-month certification, there are few steps DCF can take to recoup benefits that were paid while the recipient lived out of state.

In the audit, LPA staff looked at 43 million transactions totaling about $1 billion during that time period. To determine possible out-of-state fraud, the agency audited a random sample of 10,500 EBT cards out of nearly 290,000, excluding recipients who lived near state’ borders to eliminate people who shop across the border regularly.

They found 51 SNAP recipients possibly lived in a different state while receiving benefits totaling about $63,000.

“On average, recipients received Kansas SNAP benefits for four months after they appeared to move,” the LPA report said.

The longest a person appeared to receive benefits after appearing to move was 21 months, and the average benefits received were $650, while a single recipient received $5,700, the audit said.

Extrapolating from the data, the LPA report estimated that 1,000 to 1,800 SNAP recipients could have received benefits despite living outside Kansas, which would total between $700,000 and $1.2 million in benefits.

Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins, a Republican candidate for state insurance commissioner, sent out a news release Friday calling the issue a product of Gov. Laura Kelly’s “cover up.”

“A new audit showed what we suspected,” he said. “Is this what the Kelly Cover-Up was hiding? Kansans deserve better stewardship of their tax dollars, and House Republicans took decisive action to stop exactly this kind of misuse.”

Hawkins referred to the passage and veto override of House Bill 2004, which forces DCF and the governor to turn over requested data relating to cash assistance, child care assistance and food assistance when requested by federal agencies.

The bill came about after Kelly and Department for Family and Children Secretary Laura Howard refused to share SNAP data with the U.S. Department of Agriculture until the federal agency agreed that the data wouldn’t be shared with foreign entities. Such a use, which was included in the first data request, would violate Kansas restrictions.

In a response to the report, DCF said that it is legal to use SNAP’s electronic benefits transfer card outside the state at authorized retailers.

Kansas participates in a national program that checks whether beneficiaries are already receiving benefits in other states. The state also launched the National Accuracy Clearinghouse in February 2026, the DCF response said.

“The NAC is a new nationwide system checked at application, recertification, and when household members change in order to prevent duplicate participation,” the response said.

The post audit reported that it may have underestimated potential fraud because it eliminated border states and used a narrow time frame.

It said DCF reported that Kansas is a simplified reporting state, one of two options offered by the federal government, which keeps the costs low but limits the information SNAP recipients are required to report and gives the agency less insight into recipients’ circumstances.

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Story via Kansas Reflector