Emergency SNAP Benefits to Be Made Available for October

Gov. Greg Abbott announced this week that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is providing more than $329.4 million in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits for October. The allotments are expected to help about 1.6 million Texas households.

"Millions of Texans are able to lead healthier lives because of these SNAP benefits provided by HHSC," Gov. Abbott said. "By extending emergency SNAP benefits for October, these families will continue having access to nutritious food so that they can grow and thrive."

HHSC received federal approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to extend the maximum, allowable amount of SNAP benefits to recipients based on family size, and all SNAP households will receive a minimum of $95 in emergency allotments. This additional emergency allotment should appear in recipients’ accounts by Oct. 31.

Industry Insider — Texas’ next members-only event will feature the deputy executive commissioner for IT and chief information officer from Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Ricardo Blanco will field questions at 11 a.m. Oct. 13 at the Archer Hotel in Austin.

As the CIO for HHS, Ricardo Blanco oversees the technology needs of over 40,000 employees and manages an annual IT budget estimated at over $1.2 billion.

HHS includes the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

HHS is the largest state agency in Texas with an annual budget of over $39 billion.

HHSC Information Technology received two GovTech Best of Texas awards at the Texas Digital Government Summit* on June 1.

The Riata Migration Project won the Best of Texas Award for IT Collaboration. This project relocated over 73 applications and tools and over 400 servers from the Riata Data Center to a state-owned data center supported by the Department of Information Resources.

The State Health Analytics and Reporting Platform (SHARP) won the Best of Texas Award for Best Innovative Use of Data Analytics. SHARP is an enterprise data platform that provides near-term and long-term data management and processing for the Department of State Health Services.

Industry Insider — Texas Member Briefings seek to spotlight those in state government who are familiar with agency IT needs and procurement.

*The annual Texas Digital Government Summit is hosted by Government Technology, sister publication to Industry Insider — Texas.