Instead of flooding grocery stores with food stamp recipients on the 1st of every month, Idaho would stagger the issuance of food stamps over the first 10 days of each month, under legislation that cleared the Senate Health & Welfare Committee this afternoon on a 6-3 vote. Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, said she was prompted to sponsor SB 1053 by her own experience going grocery shopping - and encountering huge crowds on the 1st of the month. Anti-hunger activists testified that the state's current single-day distribution leads to food going to waste when shoppers face long lines and abandon their carts of food, including easily spoiled food like frozen items that can't be re-shelved. A similar bill passed the House last year, but failed in the Senate committee.