BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — A new, permanent summer grocery program will help nearly 21 million kids across 37 states get enough to eat this year while school’s out.

But 13 states with Republican governors have opted out of the federal program, citing their opposition to what they deride as “welfare” and their unwillingness to cover administrative costs.

Under the new $2.5 billion program created by Congress, eligible low-income households will receive a total of $120 per child over the three summer months when school-based free and reduced-price lunch programs aren’t available.

Washington, D.C., several territories and tribal nations also are participating. Families making up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or $57,720 for a family of four, are eligible.

Funds have already been distributed to families in many states.

The money will be available on an electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, card. Households enrolled in state-administered programs can use their benefits at retail stores that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

Idaho senator: ‘We’re sending the wrong message to parents and kid’s

The states that chose not to participate in Summer EBT — Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — could decide to opt in next year.

Idaho legislators in the state Senate voted down the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare budget that would have included funding for the summer program during the 2024 legislative session.

Idaho would have covered half of the administrative cost of the program — $545,300 — while the USDA would have covered the other half of administrative costs and 100% of the lunch money, according to reporting from Idaho Education News. The USDA would have paid $16.3 million to cover lunches for 136,000 Idaho children, according to Health and Welfare’s budget request and Idaho Education News.

“We’re sending the wrong message to parents and kids that we’re going to keep providing for everybody without needing something in return,” said Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, during the debate on the funding. “I believe that the message we need to be sending is we all need to work for what we get.”

While Oklahoma is not participating in the program, the Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes in the state are. Fourteen states with Republican governors are participating in the program.

The money put on the digital cards comes from the federal government, but states must cover half the cost of administering the program. Those costs include the salaries and benefits of the people running the program, office expenses and outreach efforts.

Iowa officials said the program would cost $2.2 million for the state to administer. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a news release that federal cash benefit programs don’t provide long-term solutions and that the EBT card “does nothing to promote nutrition” because there are few restrictions on food purchases.

The office of Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said the state opted out of the program as part of his rejection of “attempts to expand the welfare state,” according to Mississippi Today.

Texas officials told The Texas Tribune that the federal government didn’t give them enough time to get the program up and running.

Jason Raven, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Education, told Stateline that the state already has two federally funded summer programs that provide free meals to kids 18 and under.

But one advocacy group estimates that close to 150,000 children statewide don’t get enough food even with existing programs, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

One participating state, Tennessee, has already announced it will opt out of the program in 2025, according to The Associated Press.

A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s office said that Tennessee has other food assistance programs in place.

Louisiana, Nebraska and Vermont change course on summer program

Three states — Louisiana, Nebraska and Vermont — originally said they would not participate in the summer program, but changed course.

After Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration and the state Department of Education opted not to apply for the program, the Louisiana Legislature pushed back and included $3.6 million in the state budget to participate.

Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s administration initially opted out, saying the state wouldn’t be able to afford the administrative costs, according to Vermont Public. But state officials secured a waiver to participate after they said they worked with the federal government to get more flexibility in administering the program, VTDigger reported.

When Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen changed his mind about opting out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture program in February, it was a visit from schoolchildren that won him over.

“They talked about being hungry, and they talked about the summer USDA program and, depending upon access, when they’d get a sack of food,” Pillen said at a news conference. “And from my seat, what I saw there, we have to do better in Nebraska.”

Alabama’s Legislature in May approved $10 million for the state to participate in 2025.

Kelsey Boone, senior child nutrition policy analyst at Food Research & Action Center, which advocates for people struggling with poverty-related hunger, said she expects more states to commit to Summer EBT in 2025, if the program demonstrates success.

“For most states, the trade-off ends up being that for all that’s being spent on administrative costs, the benefits of the program far outweighs it,” Boone said.

“I think there will be a lot of pushback and a lot of people reaching out to their state agencies and their state governors’ offices to, you know, ask them to run the program in 2025, and that will be very powerful,” she said.

USDA’s history of providing summer EBT program

Roughly 17 million households experienced food insecurity in 2022, according to the USDA, compared with 13.5 million in 2021 and 13.8 million in 2020. The agency defines food insecurity as limited or uncertain access to adequate food.

In December 2022, Congress permanently authorized the Summer EBT program, with a start date of this summer.

Since 2010, the USDA has rolled out several versions of this program through various pilot programs. In its evaluation of the program over a decade, the department found that the Summer EBT program reduced childhood food insecurity by a “significant amount” and promoted a healthy diet.

Miriam Cobbs, a single mother of three children who lives in Missouri, praised the program as a lifeline for parents in the summer months. A May survey commissioned by meal-kit brand HelloFresh of more than 450 parents with kids under 18 found that 41% of parents struggle to provide food for their families during school breaks.

“With the food prices being so high, every little bit helps,” Cobbs said. “This is an awesome idea for people that have children at home for the summer. So many children go hungry during these summer months, especially when the parents have little income to work with.”

Idaho Capital Sun editor-in-chief Christina Lords contributed to this report.

One man was shot multiple times Saturday night in an altercation just before midnight in downtown Idaho Falls. Multiple callers reported the shooting in the region of 330 North Capital Avenue. According to an Idaho Falls Police Department news release, officers discovered “the victim, an adult male who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the parking lot.”

“The officers performed lifesaving measures,” the release said, before Idaho Falls Fire Department arrived on the scene and took the victim to a local hospital for treatment.

“The suspect, 23-year-old Logan Stephens, was detained immediately and arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon,” the department reports. He is currently in the Bonneville County Jail.

According to the release, “the victim is expected to survive his injuries at this time.” No additional information is currently available for the public and the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with additional information about the incident who hasn’t already contacted law enforcement is requested to call police dispatch at 208-529-1200.

Seven-year-old Patrice Droesch comfortably sat with her legs folded beneath her, lingering on the pages of Brian Lies’ “Bats at the Library,” a children’s book about bats that have a grand time when they find a window at their local library has been left open one night.

Patrice’s mom, Elizabeth Droesch of Coeur d’Alene, sat at a nearby table in the Seagrave Children’s Library at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, researching different titles.

“I was just going through all of these and reading reviews and making sure what I choose is appropriate for my kids,” she said. “It takes time.”

Droesch has three children ages 7-13 whom she homeschools.

She said their family will be impacted by House Bill 710, the “Children’s School and Library Protection Act,” when it goes into effect Monday.

“It impacts me in two ways,” she said. “I think one is there are materials in the library or in the kids’ section I don’t agree with maybe, especially under the realm of gender or gender identity. That’s not something I think should be so accessible for children, especially without an adult to help them process their thoughts or have conversations.

“However, I think it’s really controlling to fine librarians for something that seems to be very relative,” she said.

Droesch said she reads her Bible and she believes in raising children to know the Lord.

“But I don’t believe that we’re out here to control,” she said. “We’re not here to come and put our hands on everything and decide what’s right for everyone. I think everyone should have the freedom to choose and that parents should be involved in helping their children choose. That’s what I think.”

In Idaho, a state where freedom is a sacred right, this new law is celebrated in some circles and bemoaned in others.

House Bill 710

Following years of attempts by some Idaho legislators to impose more restrictions on library materials, Gov. Brad Little finally signed the most recent iteration of the bill into law April 10, declaring, “I signed that stinking bill.”

“Gov. Little signed House Bill 710 because he shares the Legislature’s desire to keep truly inappropriate library materials out of the hands of children,” Little’s press secretary, Madison Hardy, said in a statement to The Press. “He said in his transmittal letter for House Bill 710 that he will be watching the implementation and outcomes of the bill very closely.”

According to the Children’s School and Library Protection Act — which was supported by all of Kootenai County’s elected officials — school and library staff members who provide youths with materials deemed harmful to minors can be fined $250. Patrons may now request relocation of materials to adults-only areas, and libraries will have 30 days to fulfill the request. If they fail to comply, they will incur fines and may face “any other relief available by law,” which could include “injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the defendant school or public library from violating the requirements.”

A similar 2023 bill would have allowed schools and libraries to be sued for $2,500, but Little “vetoed a bill that would have created a library bounty system so egregious that smaller libraries would have been forced to close their doors to minors altogether.”

What is obscene?

According to Cornell Law, obscenity is a category of speech unprotected by the First Amendment. But definitions of pornography and obscenity can often vary.

A report released by the Boise-based Idaho Family Policy Center, however, offers insight into definitions that might apply under HB710. 

The policy center released a report in 2023 in which it found three libraries in Kootenai County — Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Spirit Lake — to have “obscene” materials that kids could access: “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel; “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson; “Dreaming in Cuban” by Cristina García; and “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie H. Harris. These books contain themes of sex, LGBTQIA+ sexuality, gender roles, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, suicide and other mature concepts.

That same year, the Idaho Family Policy Center drafted language upon which HB710 was built.

Morgan MaGill, communications manager for the center, said they were approached in 2021 and 2022 by parents who were concerned children they knew had “accessed pornographic books at their local school or community library.”

“At first, we were skeptical,” she said, “but as we researched the issue, we learned that children’s access to library pornography has been a widespread problem for years now.”

MaGill said the Children’s School and Library Protection Act does not ban any books. She said the law’s purpose is to ensure children will not have access to pornographic materials while using taxpayer-funded schools and libraries.

“No one should distribute pornography to children — especially not public schools and community libraries,” she said. “Parents should trust that their children will not encounter harmful pornography while making use of materials, services and programs provided by public schools and community libraries.”

Preparing for the new law

Coeur d’Alene Library Director Michael Priest said it’s difficult to predict what kind of impact this new law will have on library services, given that it has sparked varying legal opinions.

“The (Coeur d’Alene Library) Board of Trustees have opted to take a flexible approach, updating the policies that the statute requires and discussing other measures the library may take in the future,” he said. “We will be in a better position to assess the situation and make adjustments after July 1.”

The library’s board updated its Material Review Policy, Material Review and Relocation Request Form and Materials Selection and Collection Development Policy to comply with the Children’s School and Library Protection Act, Priest said.

In the last five years, two books have been challenged at the library. After thorough review, neither book was removed.

For the East Bonner County Library District, drafting the changes took dozens of hours of staff time, and their work was reviewed by the district’s attorney. Still, questions remain.

“It remains to be seen how costly the impacts of this legislation may become, depending on factors such as potential court cases and the renovation of library facilities to create restricted areas with adult access only,” Vanessa Velez, interim director, said in an email to board trustees. 

Each request for removal needs to be assessed on its own merits without sweeping changes to library collections, spaces or procedures, she said.

“We also need to be wary of the potential for violating citizens’ First Amendment rights if we were to start preemptively sequestering or removing materials based on their subjective potential to be claimed as ‘harmful to minors,’” Velez said.

She said an in-house committee is being formed to explore possible responses to the varied situations that the district may face.

“There are too many factors involved to be able to perfectly plan our response to all of them ahead of time, including potential court cases, if it comes to that,” she added.

Velez said district officials don’t believe its library have any materials that are harmful to minors, “but since the language in the law is vague and at times contradictory, it’s hard to predict the outcome of any future court decisions,” she said. “So for now, we are complying with the law via our updated policy and form.”  

Elsewhere, the Community Library Network finalized a new policy as well, a process that generated two new forms: Request for Reconsideration of Material, which allows customers to request the library evaluate a specific item; and Request for Relocation of Material, which is for an item the customer believes contains material harmful to minors as defined by Idaho Code. There is a statutory time limit of 60 days from receipt of the form to completion of the review process. Both forms allow library patrons to appeal to the board of trustees should they not agree with the library’s determination, Assistant Library Director Lindsey Miller-Escarfuller said.

“CLN staff have been provided with copies of the policies and forms, and staff have received training from their managers on implementing the new policies,” Miller-Escarfuller said. “As with most changes, some staff are feeling a bit unsure of exactly what to expect when a customer turns in one of the forms. With that said, our staff are well equipped, and I know that they will do their absolute best.”

The Community Library Network has taken steps to guide customers in selecting library materials, she said.

“We have age-appropriate collections identified within the library,” Miller-Escarfuller said. “In addition, we provide parents and legal guardians with the option to obtain limited access cards which ensures children are not able to check out certain materials. The use of library materials is an individual matter. Responsibility for children’s use of library materials rests with their parents or legal guardians.”

The CLN has received 14 requests for reconsideration of materials since 2021. Five of those items were relocated within the library. An example of this would be relocating a children’s fiction book to the teen fiction section, Miller-Escarfuller said.

“We have not removed books in response to a request for reconsideration,” she said.

Opposition

The grassroots Library Alliance of North Idaho, previously known as the Community Library Network Alliance, was formed to preserve and protect North Idaho’s libraries. Its members, which number in the hundreds, believe in freedom of speech and fighting against censorship in all its forms. 

Their battle cry: “Help save our libraries.”

Steering committee member Naomi Strom, who was raised in a conservative Christian household in Hayden and works as the lead circulation specialist at the Hayden Library, said libraries are already doing what they are supposed to do.

“The purpose of our libraries is to provide free access to information and resources,” she said, speaking on her own behalf and not on behalf of the library. “Libraries are for everyone, but not every book is for everyone. We should all be allowed to decide for ourselves what we want to read.”

She said freedom of speech and free access to information is essential to the survival of democracy.

“Censoring books is un-American,” she said. “Free people read freely.”

Some people have said the implementation of HB710 won’t affect libraries if they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Strom said that is built on a false premise.

“What they really mean is, ‘Libraries have nothing to worry about if they do what we demand,’” she said. “It’s a threat — ‘Do what we want, or we bury you in lawsuits. If you don’t remove the books we don’t like, we’ll take away your funding.’”

She said those who support this new law like to ask, “Do you think kids should have access to porn?”

“They say this because it is a conversation-ending argument,” Strom said. “Of course nobody wants that. But the assertion that libraries are providing porn to kids, and that librarians are pedophiles and groomers, is simply not true.”

Josiah Mannion, also a Library Alliance of North Idaho member and Hayden librarian speaking on his own behalf, said it is a librarian’s duty to maintain “an ecosystem of open knowledge that is not hermetically sealed into a closed system. That’s the point of libraries.”

He said the alliance’s goal is to generate support from the public to maintain an open system so people can check out whatever they want.

“An open library system is the ability to connect through difference, and the books and the resources libraries provide are that connection of difference for a lot of rural communities that don’t have access to other kinds of knowledge ecosystems, knowledge of the outside world,” he said. “One of the underlying principles of 710 that is being operated on in its implementation is trying to close up and seal off that openness.”

In Kootenai County, some community members will spend Monday delivering handwritten notes of appreciation and home-baked cookies to local librarians. These tokens of gratitude will serve as a reminder of the invaluable contributions of librarians to their communities, according to a Tuesday news release from the Kootenai County Democrats.

“Residents are encouraged to participate by writing thank you cards to their local librarians,” the news release said. “Whether it’s sharing cherished memories of time spent in the library, acknowledging the profound impact libraries have had or simply stating, ‘Thank you, we support you,’ these messages will uplift and encourage librarians during this critical time.”