Florida becomes first state to block welfare cash for tattoos, vapes and more

Florida is becoming the first state to impose sweeping new limits on how welfare cash can be spent, blocking recipients from using cash-assistance benefits loaded onto EBT cards for purchases like tattoos, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products and other items not generally considered "basic needs" under a plan the Trump administration is urging other states to emulate.

Florida’s cash-assistance program, known as Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), is funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

It is separate from SNAP, the food-assistance program, though families may receive both types of benefits through separate balances on the same EBT card.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) determined Florida’s updated TANF plan to be complete Thursday in a letter sent to Gov.

Ron DeSantis and obtained by Fox News Digital.

The letter praised the Sunshine State governor for putting "common-sense restrictions" on what it calls inappropriate, luxury and non-essential purchases.

MICHIGAN LAWMAKER MOVES TO SHUT DOWN 'GUARDRAIL-FREE' CASH HANDOUT PROGRAM FOR NEW MOTHERS "Taxpayer-funded assistance should help families put food on the table, keep the lights on, purchase clothing, provide for their children and overcome barriers on the path toward independence," DeSantis said in announcing the policy.

"We will continue supporting Floridians who genuinely need assistance, while working to improve accountability and transparency so that these programs operate as intended." Florida had already barred EBT cards from being used or accepted for alcohol purchases and transactions at adult-entertainment establishments, casinos and commercial bingo locations several years ago, but the updated plan moves beyond those merchant and location-based restrictions by imposing item-level limits at otherwise eligible retailers, including on purchases for tattoos and other body piercings, entertainment services and products like theme park admission and video games, intoxicants like vapes and other nicotine products, and pornography products.

SEE IT: SNAP ADVOCATE DEFENDS TAXPAYER-FUNDED COCA-COLA IN FIERY EXCHANGE WITH GOP LAWMAKER ON WASTE The governor's press release announcing the change also cites "Psychic and fortune-telling services" among those purchases that will be prohibited.

Florida’s separate Healthy SNAP initiative, launched in April, barred recipients from using food benefits on soda, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed prepared desserts.