Issue Brief 14-07
February 21, 2014
Summary 

On February 7, 2014, the president signed the Agriculture Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79), which reauthorizes programs under the farm bill for federal fiscal years (FYs) 2014-2018. The final bill represents the conference agreement reached after both the House and Senate passed separate versions of the legislation last year.

The agreement would reduce direct federal spending by a total of -$16.5 billion from FYs 2014-2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) cost estimate. The law makes several changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including creating new limits on state “heat and eat” policies and placing additional requirements on retailers to prevent fraud and abuse. While P.L. 113-79 adopts many provisions included in either the House or Senate proposal, it notably does not include a provision that would have preempted states’ ability to put conditions on how agricultural goods and livestock are raised within their borders or for sale in the state.

Previously, FFIS published Issue Brief 14-04,which outlined the major funding provisions in the new law. This Issue Brief provides further details on the policy provisions and changes of importance to states included in the 2014 farm bill.