Approximately 43,000 Nevadans will continue receiving federal food benefits through April 30 after new eligibility requirements were temporarily waived due to a federal lawsuit. 

Federal food benefits expired Sunday for nearly 1 in 10 of the more than 500,000 Nevadans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Those Nevadans briefly lost benefits because they are able-bodied adults without dependents who do not work or volunteer at least 20 hours a week, a group that is now subject to additional work requirements under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer. 

On Tuesday the state distributed approximately $7 million in restored assistance to 25,000 adults. All other Nevadans affected by the eligibility shifts will see their benefits restored by March 10, DSS said. 

Due to its higher-than-average unemployment rate, adults on SNAP in Nevada had been exempt from work requirements since 2008. Under the new guidelines, work exemption waivers are only allowed in jurisdictions with annual unemployment rates above 10 percent. No counties in Nevada meet that threshold.

The law also removed certain groups from being automatically exempt from work requirements, including veterans and people who are homeless or have spent time in foster care.

The state Department of Social Services (DSS) wrote in a press release that it and 15 other states learned last Thursday that “due to ongoing litigation” its exemption from work requirements was extended until the end of April.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the details of the federal litigation or the other states affected by this decision.

Nevadans who may be affected by the SNAP changes, now set to take effect May 1, can learn more about how to meet eligibility requirements on the state’s resources website.