South Carolina Gov. McMaster to order purchase restrictions on SNAP benefits

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced plans to limit what beneficiaries can purchase through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

In a post to X Wednesday, McMaster said “America is getting healthy” and said that “South Carolina will do her part.”

“In the next few days, I will issue an executive order directing the Department of Social Services to place common-sense limits on purchases made using SNAP benefits, formerly known as ‘food stamps,’” he said in his post.

It isn’t the first time SNAP benefits and what they can purchase have come under scrutiny at the Palmetto State’s capitol; back in February, statehouse legislators introduced H.4061, known as the “South Carolina SNAP Nutrition Integrity Act.”

The act was described as “a bill to amend the South Carolina code of laws by enacting the ‘South Carolina SNAP Nutrition Integrity Act’ by adding Article 11 to Chapter 5, Title 43 so as to require the Department Of Social Services to apply for a federal waiver to allow the state to prohibit the purchase of candy and soft drinks with supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits; to require certain actions and reporting by the department of social services related to application for and implementation of the waiver; and for other purposes.”

That bill ultimately stalled in committee with no action before the end of the legislative session.

Several other states have already been approved for federal waivers that restrict purchases through SNAP, those being Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia, according to the Food and Nutrition Service division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Those waivers restrict a range of things, like soda, candy, prepared desserts and energy drinks, with some descriptions of what is not allowed being as vague as “unhealthy drinks,” and others as specific as “all taxable food items… except food producing plants and seeds for food producing plants.”

McMaster did not share what his ideal limits are or how restrictive they may be.