Regarding: SB194 and HB335 (2026 Regular Session)

To: Members of the Louisiana State Legislature 

Date: April 3, 2026

We, the undersigned operators of farmers markets, agricultural organizations, and local producers across Louisiana, write to express our collective concern regarding SB194 and HB335. While we support efforts to ensure program integrity, the current language of these bills creates significant and potentially devastating legal, financial, and operational risks for the small businesses and non-profits that power Louisiana’s local food economy.

Our concerns center on the following critical impacts to our markets and the farmers we support:

1. The Conflict Between State Mandates and Federal Law: Farmers markets are authorized by the USDA to accept SNAP benefits under strict federal guidelines. These federal rules, designed to protect civil rights of shoppers, prohibit retailers from requiring proof of citizenship or additional identification from SNAP users at the point of sale.

• The Conflict: HB 335 mandates that any entity administering benefits must verify citizenship and report failures to ICE.

• The Risk: This creates a legal risk. If a market follows the state mandate to verify citizenship, it risks losing its federal USDA authorization. If it follows federal law, it faces potential state penalties. 

3. Administrative Burden and Audit Liability: Most farmers markets in Louisiana are operated by small non-profits, local governments, independent businesses, or volunteer boards.

• The Entity Problem: By defining any entity as a benefit administrator, HB 335 subjects small-market organizations to mandatory audits by the Legislative Auditor.

• Financial Strain: The cost of complying with state-level citizenship verification and the risk of a negative audit will force many markets to stop accepting SNAP and state-funded matching programs entirely to avoid legal and financial liability.

In Conclusion We believe that farmers markets should remain safe, accessible spaces for all Louisiana residents to support local agriculture. We are concerned that the broad language in SB 194 and HB 335 will inadvertently dismantle years of progress in connecting Louisiana families with Louisiana-grown food. We urge the legislature to consider the unique role of farmers markets and non-profit food partners and to ensure that these bills do not create an unworkable mandate for our state's small-scale producers.

Respectfully,

WILL ADD NAMES WHO HAVE SIGNED DAILY