relative to food and drink purchased under SNAP, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

The definition of 'sweetened drink' was broadened: it no longer requires the beverage to be 'made with water' or contain a minimum of 5 grams of added sugar. Instead, it now covers any nonalcoholic beverage containing natural or artificial sweeteners, with explicit examples (soda, pop, cola, energy drinks, sports drinks, flavored water). New exclusions were added for coffee, unsweetened tea, 100% fruit/vegetable juice, and dairy-based drinks.

The definition of 'candy' was broadened: it now covers any solid, semi-solid, or molded preparation of sugar, sweeteners, or chocolate (with or without added ingredients like flour), that is commonly marketed as candy, chocolate bar, chewing gum, or similar confectionery. The old exclusions for items containing flour or requiring refrigeration were removed and replaced with an exclusion for baked goods, cakes, cookies, muffins, brownies, pastries, bread, and similar bakery/bread products.

The entire methodology section was removed, which had contained detailed cost estimates including $416,000 for retailer adoption of waiver rules, $42,000 for certification, $47,000 for implementation, up to $5,000 in EBT transaction fees, $842,000 to build the waiver, and $25,000 per fiscal year for customer service.