Millions of people across America receive public benefits from programs like Medicaid and Unemployment Insurance that are administered by state agencies and funded, at least in part, by the federal government. Historically, this information, also known as state administrative data, has been safeguarded by states and only shared with the federal government when necessary to execute federally funded programs and in adherence with privacy and security standards.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has accelerated efforts to access and aggregate state administrative data. Following President Trump’s March executive order directing federal agencies to gain “unfettered access” access to all data held by state programs that receive federal funding, the administration has sought to expand its access to data from a wide range of state programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and California’s cash assistance program. The efforts have been met with pushback from state governments and civil society organizations, including a lawsuit brought by Protect Democracy and our partner organizations challenging the legality of USDA’s demands for state data on SNAP participants.

While the second Trump administration has attempted to justify this activity under the vague and unsubstantiated claim of eliminating “fraud, waste, and abuse,” its unprecedented pursuit of sensitive state administrative data has obvious implications for the administration’s government-wide effort to consolidate information on all people living in the United States. Without proper oversight or compliance with privacy laws, these efforts to access and consolidate state administrative data could fuel government surveillance efforts and increase cybersecurity risks, while deterring lawful participation in fundamental public programs and driving decreased trust in government.

In our explainer, Federal Efforts to Expand Access to Data from State-Run Programs and Individual Privacy, published in collaboration with Center for Democracy and Technology and the Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology, we examine the types of administrative data held by state governments, current efforts by the federal government to expand access to state data, the legal protections that govern data sharing between federal and state governments, and the potential harms associated with the federal government’s unprecedented efforts to access state administrative data.