Louisiana SNAP recipients have a new deadline to worry about. Starting June 27, 2026, old benefits can disappear from EBT cards on a fixed schedule. It will not matter if the card was used recently.
This is a real change. And it could catch families off guard.
For years, Louisiana followed a simple rule. If you used your SNAP card even once, your entire balance was protected for another nine months. The clock reset with every purchase.
That safety net is going away.
Under the new rule, each monthly deposit gets its own nine-month deadline. Using your card no longer resets anything. Old funds expire on their own, even if newer funds in the same account are being spent regularly.
Here is how it works. Benefits issued in January will expire in October. That happens whether or not the card was used in February, March, or September. Each month’s deposit is tracked separately now.
This change is not unique to Louisiana. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees SNAP nationwide, told states in November 2025 they could adopt this stricter approach. Federal law has long required states to expunge SNAP benefits nine months after issuance, with regulations allowing states to choose between two methods for doing it. usda
Under the old method, states only expunged benefits that had sat untouched for nine months in an inactive account. Under the newer method that Louisiana is now adopting, states expunge each benefit allotment nine months after its issue date, regardless of whether the account is active. usdausda
USDA notes this approach will generally result in higher expungement totals, since unused benefits get removed even from accounts that are otherwise active. usda
Why does this matter for real families? Picture a parent who buys groceries every two weeks without fail. Under the old rule, that regular shopping protected the whole account. Under the new rule, it does not. If money from many months ago is still sitting unused, it can vanish — even while newer deposits get spent on time.
There is no way to undo it once it happens. Expunged benefits cannot be reissued, replaced, or appealed back onto the card. They are gone for good.
Who is affected:
- SNAP (food assistance) recipients
- KCSP (Kinship Care Subsidy Program) recipients
- FITAP (Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program) recipients
What to do before June 27:
- Check your EBT balance now. Log in online or call the number on the back of your card.
- Look for old deposits. Anything close to nine months old is at risk.
- Spend the oldest funds first. EBT systems usually do this automatically, but it is worth confirming.
- Track each month separately going forward, instead of just checking the card balance once in a while.
The change takes effect statewide. Parishes with large numbers of SNAP households, including Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Caddo, and Bossier, will see the biggest impact simply due to population size.
For full details, recipients can check the Louisiana Department of Health’s benefits page or call their local SNAP office directly.
This is not a benefit cut. The total amount issued to households does not change. But the window to use it just got a lot less forgiving.
Note for your records: I cited the USDA FNS memo directly since it’s the clearest, most authoritative public source confirming the policy mechanism nationally. The Louisiana DCFS page has migrated to LDH’s site as part of a “One Door” agency consolidation — worth a quick check before publish in case LDH has posted Louisiana-specific effective-date confirmation by the time this runs, since the K945/710 KEEL local radio sites were the only sources with the specific June 27 date and they aren’t primary government sources.
