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Gov. Laura Kelly announced that Kansas has reached an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture to protect Kansans’ private information tied to food assistance benefits.

The agreement ensures personal data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not be shared with foreign governments and will follow state and federal privacy laws. In return, the USDA will withdraw its disallowance letter and stop efforts to withhold Kansas’ SNAP administrative funding.

The USDA had requested detailed personal information — including Social Security numbers and birth dates — for anyone who applied for or received SNAP benefits in the past five years. State officials said they could not legally release that data without stronger privacy protections.

After the federal agency rejected a corrective proposal last year, the Kansas Department for Children and Families filed an appeal, preventing $10.4 million in funding from being withheld.

State officials say SNAP services were never interrupted and no funding was lost during the dispute.