Attorney General Bonta Secures Temporary Order Blocking USDA from Cutting Off State Funding to Administer Food Assistance Program

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta secured a temporary restraining order late yesterday blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from cutting off California and other states' funding to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while briefing on their litigation continues. SNAP is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country each year. In July 2025, Attorney General Bonta led a multistate coalition in suing USDA, arguing that its demand that states turn over SNAP data violates multiple federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution. The coalition later asked the court for emergency relief after USDA threatened to withhold crucial administrative funding that states depend on to run the SNAP program if the states do not turn over the demanded data.

"No Californian should have to choose between putting food on the table and allowing their personal, private data to be fed into the President's mass surveillance database," said Attorney General Bonta. "That is not what Californians agreed to when they signed up for the SNAP program. This court order is a first step in blocking the Trump Administration's latest effort to bully states into breaking the law and breaking public trust. We will not turn over our residents' personal, private data to be misused by this Administration."

A copy of the order is available here.