Washington files lawsuits to block federal government from accessing food stamp data

Washington has filed multiple lawsuits seeking to block the federal government from accessing the private information, including home addresses, of more than 1 million residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.

The federal government has said it could withhold more than $100 million in funding for nutritional programs the state receives if Washington does not provide the requested information, Attorney General Nick Brown said.

Last week, Brown filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court against the third-party contractor for the Department of Social and Health Services that delivers benefit payments to recipients without state authorization. On Monday, Brown joined a multistate federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking to block the agency from demanding the data.

“The Trump administration’s illegal and cruel action threatens the privacy and well-being of our communities,” Brown said in a statement Monday. “Our office will take action to protect Washingtonians from yet more overreach by the Trump administration.”

The USDA has given states a July 30 deadline to turn over information about all SNAP applicants for the past five years, including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses. Last week, the agency notified states it was also seeking information on the immigration status of applicants.

The USDA has suggested that states that do not comply with the request could lose federal funding. Washington receives approximately $129.5 million annually in federal funds for the program.

On Thursday, Washington filed a lawsuit against Fidelity Information Services, the contractor that distributes benefits to Washington’s 1.2 million recipients, seeking to block the company from releasing the information.

“People who need food assistance for themselves and their families should be able to trust that their data will be protected and kept private,” Brown said in a statement. “If a contractor fails to uphold the terms they’ve agreed to, we will hold them accountable under the law.”

According to the lawsuit, the company notified Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services in May that it intended to provide the information to the USDA. Soon after, the agency told Fidelity it did not consent to the company releasing the information to the USDA.

While Fidelity initially pledged not to release the information without express consent, it failed to confirm that it will not do so for more than two months, according to the lawsuit.

After filing the lawsuit, Washington sought a court order in Thurston County to block the company from disclosing the information and a declaration from the court that the disclosure without Washington’s consent would be a breach of the contract between Fidelity and the Department of Social and Health Services.

Washington withdrew its request for a temporary restraining order on Friday, after Fidelty notified the state it would provide written assurance it would not release the requested information without Washington’s approval. In an email Thursday afternoon, an attorney representing Fidelity wrote in an email to the Attorney General’s office that it “had not provided the requested SNAP data” and “does not intend to do so without your express instruction.”

Washington and 21 other states now allege that the USDA’s request also violates federal privacy laws, exceeds the agency’s authority and violates the U.S. Constitution.

“USDA makes this demand for the stated purpose of detecting ‘overpayments and fraud,’ ” the lawsuit states. “Instead, the move appears to be part of the federal government’s well-publicized campaign to amass enormous troves of personal and private data, including information on taxpayers and Medicaid recipients, to advance goals that have nothing to do with combating waste, fraud, or abuse in federal benefit programs.”

In recent months, the federal government has increasingly sought to access state data as it seeks to implement enhanced immigration enforcement efforts in the second Trump administration.

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to seek access to “comprehensive data from all State programs that receive Federal funding, including, as appropriate, data generated by those programs but maintained in third-party databases.” The executive order cites the need to reduce inefficiency and fraud in the programs as the reason to collect the information.

Earlier this month, Washington joined 20 other states in a federal lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided access to individual personal health data to the Department of Homeland Security, which the lawsuit alleges could be used in immigration enforcement.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note that after Washington’s lawsuit against Fidelity was filed Thursday, the company provided written assurance to the state attorney general’s office that it would not release the information without the state’s consent.