Legal aid group sues Texas for food stamps backlog

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The state's lingering backlog of food stamp applications has led to a lawsuit by a legal aid group in south Texas.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Austin names the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid seeks a decision for seven specific families, plus asks for a court order to force the agency to meet required 30-day processing deadlines.

The lawsuit says the backlog is "denying individual Plaintiffs and tens of thousands of other Texans access to food, the most basic of human needs."

A spokeswoman for executive commissioner Tom Suehs, Stephanie Goodman, declined comment on specific cases. Goodman says the agency is "moving as fast as we can" and has hired more than 600 eligibility workers since September.