Washington joins federal lawsuit to protect residents’ personal information

The federal government is seeking to illegally use the sensitive private information of tens of thousands of Washingtonians receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Washington and a multistate coalition have filed a new lawsuit to protect residents from this unlawful abuse of sensitive personal information.

TANF is one of the largest sources of direct assistance to low-income families and a cornerstone of Washington’s poverty reduction work. Washington receives more than $300 million annually in federal TANF funding. In 2025, nearly 36,000 Washington households received assistance benefits.

In June 2026, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a notice claiming to dramatically expand its oversight of state TANF programs, including by allowing ACF to share detailed records on TANF recipients with other federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security. 

The law enacting TANF specifically requires states, not the federal government, to be responsible for verifying TANF applicants’ eligibility for benefits. Yet the Administration for Children and Families now claims the agency has broad authority to oversee states’ TANF programs and share recipients’ private data with other federal agencies to verify immigration status. 

Under ACF’s new policy, TANF recipients’ Social Security numbers, addresses, immigration status, and other sensitive personal data would be illegally shared across the federal government. The coalition argues these changes violate the law and Constitution and are a blatant effort to politically target those who are lawfully receiving critical TANF benefits. 

“Families in Washington who turn to TANF for help with basic needs depend on our state to keep their data private and secure,” Attorney General Nick Brown said. “We’ve stood firm against this administration’s illegal efforts to use personal data from our residents for unlawful purposes, and we will continue to defend Washingtonians’ congressionally approved privacy protections.”

Congress created TANF as part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The law requires the federal government to provide block grants to states, territories, and tribal governments, which then use the funds for a variety of programs to help low-income families with children. TANF funds support childcare subsidies, emergency housing for families fleeing domestic violence, emergency food assistance, support for grandparents caring for children, and other critical services. TANF currently provides over $16 billion every year to all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and several territories and tribal governments for these programs. 

Brown and the coalition argue that the federal government’s new policy would cause significant harm to the vulnerable communities that rely on TANF funds. Allowing TANF recipients’ private data to be illegally shared across the federal government would erode trust that states’ TANF programs have built with immigrant communities and deter those legally qualified to receive benefits from seeking out assistance. This new policy could also lead to unlawful oversight requirements from the federal government—diverting resources that should be used on critical programs to help low-income families. 

The coalition argues that the new policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution by ignoring restrictions on data sharing in TANF programs and enacting arbitrary new conditions on federal funding. The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring the policy illegal and preventing it from being implemented. 

Joining Brown in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. 

Read the complaint.

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