RESTORE Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The RESTORE Act changes federal benefit rules for people with drug-related convictions. It narrows the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act drug-felony restriction so the section applies to state TANF-funded assistance rather than SNAP, removes obsolete SNAP-related language, and defines state by cross-reference to TANF law for that remaining TANF context. It then states that any state law, policy, or regulation imposing SNAP eligibility conditions based on a controlled-substance conviction has no force or effect. The bill also amends the Food and Nutrition Act homeless definition to include incarcerated individuals scheduled to be released from an institution within 30 days. The practical effect is to stop states from using drug convictions to deny SNAP and to make pre-release SNAP processing easier for people leaving custody.
Who Benefits and How
People with controlled-substance convictions benefit because state SNAP restrictions based on those convictions would be preempted. Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release within 30 days benefit because they can be treated as homeless for SNAP eligibility purposes. Reentry service providers benefit because clients can connect to food assistance before or immediately after release. Families of returning citizens benefit if SNAP access reduces food insecurity during reentry.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State SNAP agencies must remove drug-conviction eligibility conditions and update eligibility systems. Corrections reentry staff must coordinate pre-release SNAP applications for people scheduled to leave custody within 30 days. Federal taxpayers bear SNAP benefit costs for people who would otherwise have been denied due to state drug-conviction rules. States that prefer stricter drug-felony SNAP rules lose policy discretion.
Key Provisions
- Repeals SNAP-related application of the federal drug-felony benefit ban.
- Preempts state SNAP eligibility conditions based on controlled-substance convictions.
- Adds incarcerated individuals scheduled for release within 30 days to the SNAP homeless definition.
- Supports food assistance access during reentry from incarceration.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Restores SNAP access for people with controlled-substance convictions by preempting state drug-conviction SNAP restrictions and lets incarcerated people scheduled for release within 30 days qualify as homeless for SNAP purposes.
Key Policy Areas
Nutrition Assistance, Reentry, Criminal Justice
Primary Purpose
Restores SNAP access for people with controlled-substance convictions by preempting state drug-conviction SNAP restrictions and lets incarcerated people scheduled for release within 30 days qualify as homeless for SNAP purposes.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- People with controlled-substance convictions
- Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release
- Reentry service providers
- Families of returning citizens
Identified Costs
- State SNAP agencies
- Corrections reentry staff
- Federal taxpayers
- States with stricter drug-felony SNAP rules
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture.
Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. Rutherford) introduced the following …
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Corrections reentry staff, Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release
Positive-direction: Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release
Negative-direction: Corrections reentry staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology