Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and Attorney General Kris Kobach clearly don’t see eye-to-eye on the state’s data for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
On Monday, Kobach announced he is asking a federal court to force the Kelly administration to file the state’s SNAP data to the federal government. Kobach says state law mandates the Department for Children and Families shares its data with the US Department of Agriculture and says failure to do so jeopardizes over $10 million in federal funds.
Governor Kelly, meanwhile, says Kobach and House Speaker Dan Hawkins declined to meet for discussions on the topic before the lawsuit was announced. She also says Kobach “is not known for doing his homework or placing priority on protecting Kansans’ private data.”
Several states have sued the federal government over data filing policy. Kelly and DCF Secretary Laura Howard refused to comply earlier this year, saying personal details of over 700,000 residents would be put at risk if the data was shared.
