By Margaret O’Hara
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Republican state senators have introduced legislation that would restrict shoppers from spending federal food aid on sodas and candy.
Senate Bill 186 takes a page out of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again playbook, with both U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraging states to remove sugary foods from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility.
Some of New Mexico’s neighboring states — including states with Democratic and with Republican leadership — have embraced those changes. SNAP restrictions will go into place in Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma this year.
The thinking behind the bill: ” ‘Treats’ are exactly that: treats,” Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, said in a statement.
“The idea of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program … is to enable people in need to put food on their tables. Senate Bill 186 refocuses the program to fulfill that very important mission,” said Woods, who co-sponsored the bill with Sens. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, and Rex Wilson, R-Ancho.
The bill could be a challenge to pass with just over a week remaining in this year’s legislative session. SB 186 would need approval from three Senate committees before passing on the Senate floor — and repeating that process on the House side and securing the governor’s signature.
In a fiscal impact report for SB 186, the New Mexico Health Care Authority, which administers SNAP at the state level, expressed concerns the bill would reduce flexibility for families in need and increase stigma associated with using SNAP benefits.
New Mexico has the highest per-capita SNAP participation rate in the country, with around 460,000 people, or 21% of the population, enrolled.
“While promoting healthy eating is an important goal, it is critical to recognize that healthier food options are often more expensive and less accessible, particularly in rural and low-income communities,” the Health Care Authority noted in the report. “Restricting SNAP purchases to exclude certain low-cost food items may unintentionally create additional barriers for households that already struggle to stretch limited food dollars across an entire month.”
The state agency also noted the change would require approval of a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, since the Health Care Authority cannot independently prohibit candy or sweetened drinks purchases with SNAP benefits.
The Trump administration has backed limiting the purchase of unhealthy foods like soda and candy through the food aid program — which has been subject to unprecedented upheaval in recent months after benefits were temporarily suspended in November during a federal government shutdown.
When several states received federal approval to limit the purchase of sugary food and drinks with SNAP in August 2025, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a statement he hoped “to see all 50 states join this bold commonsense approach.”
Alcohol, tobacco products, hygiene items or foods that are hot at the time of sale are already excluded from SNAP eligibility, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The federal agency has estimated about 80 cents of every $1 in SNAP benefits will purchase basic ingredients — such as meat, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, eggs, bread, rice, beans, cereal and prepared foods — while another 20 cents will purchase sweetened drinks, desserts, snacks and sugar.
Existing SNAP programs also incentivize the purchase of healthy foods, like fruits, vegetables, dairy and whole grains.
Woods argued New Mexico should take that a step further.
“For those who rely on state and federal assistance to combat food insecurity, it is incumbent on us as policymakers to ensure that nutritious and healthy foods are made available,” he said.