Food stamps (SNAP) in
Utah.

The 2025 Legislature passed H.B. 403, SNAP Funds Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Kristen Chevrier, which told DWS to ask USDA for permission to block soft drinks. USDA approved the request on June 10, 2025 for two years, starting January 1, 2026.

A soft drink here is a flavored drink made with carbonated water and sweetened with sugar or an artificial sweetener, so diet soda is covered too. Drinks with milk or a soy or rice substitute, and drinks more than half fruit or vegetable juice, can still be bought with SNAP.

At checkout, ring soft drinks up separately and pay with other money, the same as alcohol or paper towels. The benefit amount did not change; only the list of items did. The law also requires DWS to report on SNAP spending patterns to a legislative committee by November 1 each year.

Utah's waiver was not one of the five a federal court vacated on June 22, 2026 (Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia), and FNA's waiver page, updated October 13, 2026, still lists it. Utah State University and the Utah Food Security Council are among the partners named to help evaluate the project.

With some exceptions, people applying for or getting SNAP must take part in the Employment and Training program, and much of it happens online at jobs.utah.gov.

Participants register as job seekers, take a short job readiness evaluation, attend a SNAP E&T virtual workshop, finish assigned online workshops on resumes and interviewing, log job contacts, and meet an employment counselor every month.

Quitting a job or cutting your hours on purpose can end SNAP for that person. So can refusing, without good reason, to answer the questions DWS uses to decide whether the work rules apply.

Through the Elderly Simplified Application Process, a household of people who are elderly or have a disability and no earned income is approved for three years at a time, and only needs an interview when it first applies.

Utah's disability list for SNAP includes SSI, Social Security disability, a 100% VA disability rating, and Medicaid under the D-MAO or B-MAO categories. Utah's interim General Assistance for people waiting on an SSI decision does not count.

A member with a permanent disability who cannot buy and fix food can be fed as a separate SNAP household if the others' income stays under 165% of poverty, $4,538 a month for four on Table 2.

Instead of adding up each bill, DWS gives one flat allowance. From October 1, 2026, a home that pays for heating or cooling gets $532 a month, one with only other utilities such as power, water, sewer or garbage gets $446, and one with only a phone gets $61.

Cooling means an air conditioner or a swamp cooler, not fans, and a household with a seasonal heating or cooling cost keeps the full allowance all year. Internet is never a utility cost, even when the phone needs it.

For a home with a member 60 or older or disabled, receiving a HEAT energy payment in the current HEAT year is treated as qualifying for the full $532 allowance.

Expedited help goes to households whose income and cash together fall short of rent and utilities, those with under $150 of monthly income and no more than $100 in cash or accounts, and some migrant and seasonal farmworkers. DWS will not hold it past 7 days over missing papers.

The application date matters. Apply on or before the 15th and an expedited case is approved for that month; apply after the 15th and DWS issues the application month and the next one together. A third month waits until every postponed paper is in.

If you disagree with the expedited decision, tell DWS, and it will set up a meeting within two working days.

Between reviews, the income change a SNAP household must report is gross income climbing above 130% of poverty for its size. Medical costs are not a reportable change; older or disabled members can add them at the next review instead.

DWS reviews each case every 6 to 12 months. The review shows up the month before it is due, and finishing it in myCase means no paper form. Miss it, and you have 30 days after the closure date to complete it, with that month's benefit prorated.

You have 90 days from the date of the notice to request a fair hearing on a SNAP decision. For SNAP you may also ask at any point during your review period if you think the benefit amount is wrong.

Call 877-837-3247, fax Form 490 to 877-824-6534, email fairhearings@utah.gov, or mail it to DWS Fair Hearings, PO Box 143245, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-3245. Do not send the request through myCase.

Ask within 10 days of the notice and a cut or closure can wait until the judge rules, but you repay the extra if DWS wins. Denied applications and closures for a missed review do not continue. Hearings are usually by phone and decided within 60 days.