Not much can be said with certainty when peering into the bleak economic future, but here's one fairly safe bet: Many more people are finding themselves in need of help to pay for life's essentials.

State Sen. Gary Hooser wants to help more people access federal aid to meet this need with Senate Bill 1668, a measure that would remove what the bill identifies as barriers to participation in the program commonly known as food stamps.

That federal benefit, redubbed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October, now reaches about 72 percent of families currently eligible.

Hooser projects that by raising participation to about 90 percent, an additional $45 million in federal funds would be spent at grocery stores and disperse through the Hawai'i economy.

It's a worthy goal, and SB 1668 should be heard to pinpoint ways to expand SNAP's reach. But it will take more changes than this bill provides to produce that result.

The Department of Human Services maintains that it's already doing much of what the bill proposes, to the extent allowed by federal law. For example, in-person interviews for first-time applicants are generally required by Uncle Sam, said department Director Lillian Koller; replacing that with telephone interviews would take a change in the federal regulations as well.

But the bill also seeks the elimination of the "asset test" — screening the applicant's bank accounts and liquid cash to ensure they don't top $2,000 (or $3,000 for elderly and disabled). Hooser contends that this penalizes families for saving sufficient emergency funds as a cushion for unexpected household needs.

He's right, and Koller agrees that as a policy matter, families need incentives to save, not discouragement.

However, she said, the state already exempts applicants who receive other financial assistance and Social Security from the test.

She acknowledged that the benefit could be extended further by increasing the income caps to the federal limit. Hawai'i's cap is now set at 130 percent of the federal poverty line, when federal law now permits eligibility up to 200 percent. Such an expansion should be considered.

Beyond that, more should be done to encourage eligible families to apply. Many of them hold back because of a stigma associated with food stamps, Koller said, which is one reason the program was renamed SNAP and the benefit cards were redesigned to call less of that unwelcome attention to the participant.

Whatever the challenges to optimizing the benefit, the fact remains that 28 percent of those eligible now are going without. That gap needs to be narrowed — now, more than ever.