Opinion: HB100 takes a bite out of student hunger
As a small nonprofit, The Policy Project recognizes policy as an incredible tool to do widespread, upstream 'good.' And we bit off a huge task this year — creating a statewide policy to address hunger in the 2025 Utah legislative session. Specifically, the hunger of students.
Hunger is a pervasive issue globally — and one that's difficult to solve, given the nature of bodies and the constant demand every human has for energy and calories to survive and thrive.
Gratefully, Utah has lower poverty rates than most states, and hunger is not as prevalent as other places. Still, 1 in 6 children here is hungry. That's 1 in 6 too many.
Going into the legislative session, we knew money was tight, and there were a lot of good bills that would be seeking funding. Having the right bill sponsor would be critical — someone who understands the reality of the incredible good in Utah, its robust economy and strong families, but has also seen the hidden things. The things we don't like to highlight. Things like families who work multiple jobs and still come up short. Things like parents who aren't able to fully care for children because of health issues, addiction or a myriad of other things. And things like kids, who can't pay attention in class because their stomachs are pained with hunger.
Enter Rep. Tyler Clancy.
When I first spoke to Clancy about his passion for alleviating child hunger, he told me stories from his 'real' job as a police officer in Provo. Clancy witnessed firsthand the hidden struggles families face — none more heartbreaking than child hunger. Responding to calls across the city, he saw hunger in motel rooms, in apartments, in schools. It wasn't just a background issue — it was woven into nearly every crisis he encountered. One morning before leaving the scene of a call, Clancy asked if he could do anything for the children present. Their request was simple: a ride to school and something to eat.
'Something to eat.'
Those words stuck with him. He couldn't shake the realization that hunger was a daily reality for so many kids in his community. He saw it over and over again — children going without meals, struggling to focus in school, caught in situations beyond their control. And once he had seen it, he knew he had to do something about it.
Thus the birth, and passage, of Utah House Bill 100 Food Security Amendments. The bill has passed the House. It passed the Senate and is waiting only for the signature of a supportive Gov. Cox.
HB100 was crafted with the intent of targeting kids who need it desperately. Kids from families who are employed, and who do not qualify for any type of federal government assistance such as SNAP or TANF. They're the families we want to continue to lift toward the middle class, instead of letting them slip into poverty. HB100 will ensure that their kids, who currently qualify for 'reduced cost' lunch at school, now receive lunch at no cost.
This small step alone can reduce grocery bills for households with children by as much as 19%.
The bill also addresses important issues around shame and stigma — preventing schools from creating markers for students who receive free lunch, like a different color tray from their peers. It also encourages schools to create 'share tables' and ensure 15 minutes of seated eating time in order to limit food waste.
No policy is perfect, nor can a single policy solve every problem. HB100 will not save all the kids in the state. It will not fix hunger during the summer or when kids are home over the weekend. And, unfortunately, it most definitely will not change life for children like Gavin Peterson, whose parents and guardians use starvation as a tool to abuse and torture them.
There has been some confusion around that point. A recent article claimed that Clancy said Gavin Peterson's death paved the way for this bill. It did not. HB100, as directed by Clancy, is intentionally broad and won't address such cases, whereas Senate Bill 24 Child Abuse and Torture Amendments does address such scenarios and thankfully passed.
HB100 is an incredible step toward solving hunger for our students in need. This bill targets 40,000 children from families who work hard to provide, and find themselves coming up short. These children — all children — deserve to eat. It prevents 200,000 students from experiencing stigma related to receiving free meals. And it aims to reduce food waste for 675,000 students.
HB100 alone will not solve hunger in Utah. But it will ensure that those kids who need it most, in every corner of the state, have access to consistent food. Hungry kids can't learn, but fed kids can.
We are incredibly grateful to the Utah Legislature for recognizing this need and for standing up for Utah's most vulnerable — its children.
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For proponents, the ideas behind the work requirement are simple: Crack down on fraud and stand on the principle that taxpayer-provided health coverage isn't for those who can work but aren't. The measure includes exceptions for those who are under 19 or over 64, those with disabilities, pregnant women, main caregivers for young children, people recently released from prisons or jails — or during certain emergencies. It would apply only to adults who receive Medicaid through expansions that 40 states chose to undertake as part of the 2010 health insurance overhaul. Many details of how the changes would work would be developed later, leaving several unknowns and causing anxiety among recipients who worry that their illnesses might not be enough to exempt them. Advocates and sick and disabled enrollees worry — based largely on their past experience — that even those who might be exempted from work requirements under the law could still lose benefits because of increased or hard-to-meet paperwork mandates. Benefits can be difficult to navigate even without a work requirement Strickland, a 44-year-old former server, cook and construction worker who lives in Fairmont, North Carolina, said she could not afford to go to a doctor for years because she wasn't able to work. She finally received a letter this month saying she would receive Medicaid coverage, she said. 'It's already kind of tough to get on Medicaid,' said Strickland, who has lived in a tent and times and subsisted on nonperishable food thrown out by stores. 'If they make it harder to get on, they're not going to be helping.' Steve Furman is concerned that his 43-year-old son, who has autism, could lose coverage. 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Some people don't if they might lose coverage with a work requirement Lexy Mealing, 54 of Westbury, New York, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries, said she fears she may lose the medical benefits she has come to rely on, though people with 'serious or complex' medical conditions could be granted exceptions. She now works about 15 hours a week in 'gig' jobs but isn't sure she can work more as she deals with the physical and mental toll of the cancer. Mealing, who used to work as a medical receptionist in a pediatric neurosurgeon's office before her diagnosis and now volunteers for the American Cancer Society, went on Medicaid after going on short-term disability. 'I can't even imagine going through treatments right now and surgeries and the uncertainty of just not being able to work and not have health insurance,' she said. Felix White, who has Type I diabetes, first qualified for Medicaid after losing his job as a computer programmer several years ago. The Oreland, Pennsylvania, man has been looking for a job, but finds that at 61, it's hard to land one. Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for a continuous glucose monitor and insulin and funded foot surgeries last year, including one that kept him in the hospital for 12 days. 'There's no way I could have afforded that,' he said. 'I would have lost my foot and probably died.' ___ Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut contributed to this article.
