LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The lifetime ban from receiving food benefits for those with more than one drug-related felony conviction could be lifted under a bill that passed the Michigan Senate on Wednesday.

The current law punishes offenders long after they’ve served their sentences and increases the chance they will commit more crimes, according to supporters of the legislation. Federal law allows states to permanently ban residents with drug-related felonies from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

The bill now goes to the House. If signed into law, Michigan would join 26 other states in lifting the ban, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy, which supports the bill.

Drug users can’t rehabilitate without access to a healthy meal, the bill’s sponsor Sen. Jim Ananich, a Flint Democrat, said in a media release.

“Holding food assistance out of reach as a way to continue penalizing those who have already