What This Bill Does
This bill allows households to get their supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits (a federal food assistance program) reissued if those benefits were stolen through identity theft or skimming practices (using devices to copy card information without permission). The bill requires the government to create rules for how states identify and replace stolen benefits.
Who It Affects
Households that receive supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits, state agencies that run the program, and the federal agency that oversees the program.
Key Provisions
• The Secretary of Agriculture must create regulations to establish how state agencies identify benefits stolen by identity theft or skimming practices and to provide for reissuing those stolen benefits to households (Sec. 2(2)(B)(i)).
• The Secretary must submit a report to Congress within 240 days of issuing regulations that describes how many benefits were reissued, examines whether new electronic benefit transfer card technologies could prevent theft, and includes other relevant information (Sec. 2(2)(B)(ii)).
• The Secretary must submit annual reports to Congress for each state listing the total value of reissued benefits and the number of households that received them (Sec. 2(2)(B)(iii)).
• The Secretary must regularly review and update the regulations to account for new technology and changing theft threats (Sec. 2(2)(B)(iv)).
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, households whose benefits are stolen through identity theft or skimming will be able to receive replacement benefits instead of losing that assistance.
Important Definitions
None defined in the bill text.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 205
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide for the reissuance
to households supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits to re-
place benefits stolen by identity theft or typical skimming practices,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 9, 2023
Mr. RUPPERSBERGER (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to provide
for the reissuance to households supplemental nutrition
assistance program benefits to replace benefits stolen
by identity theft or typical skimming practices, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SNAP Theft Protec-
4
tion Act of 2023’’.
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•HR 205 IH
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.
1
Section 7 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7
2
U.S.C. 2016) is amended—
3
(1) in subsection (e) by inserting ‘‘or from the
4
reissuance of benefits stolen by identity theft or typ-
5
ical skimming practices,’’ after ‘‘mail’’, and
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(2) in subsection (h)(7)—
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(A) by striking ‘‘Regulations’’ and insert-
8
ing the following:
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‘‘(A) REPLACEMENT OF BENEFITS.—Reg-
10
ulations’’, and
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(B) by adding at end the following:
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‘‘(B) REISSUANCE
OF
STOLEN
BENE-
13
FITS.—
14
‘‘(i) ISSUANCE
OF
REGULATIONS.—
15
Secretary shall issue regulations—
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‘‘(I) to establish criteria for State
17
agencies to identify supplemental nu-
18
trition assistance program benefits
19
stolen by identity theft or typical
20
skimming practices; and
21
‘‘(II)
to
provide
for
the
22
reissuance to households of benefits
23
stolen by identity theft, or typical
24
skimming practices, that meet such
25
criteria.
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•HR 205 IH
‘‘(ii) STATUS
REPORT.—Not later
1
than 240 days after the Secretary issues
2
regulations under clause (i), the Secretary
3
shall submit to the Congress a report on
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the status of benefits reissued under such
5
regulations that includes—
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‘‘(I) a detailed description of the
7
prevalence of stolen benefits for which
8
benefits are reissued under such regu-
9
lations;
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‘‘(II) an examination of current
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barriers, feasibility, and impact on
12
participant access and ease of use in
13
developing an electronic benefit trans-
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fer card that contains innovative tech-
15
nologies
such
as
an
embedded
16
microchip along with the traditional
17
magnetic stripe; and
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‘‘(III) such other information as
19
by the Secretary considers to be ap-
20
propriate.
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‘‘(iii) STOLEN BENEFIT REISSUANCE
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REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after
23
end of each fiscal year that begins after
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the Secretary issues regulations under
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•HR 205 IH
clause (i), the Secretary shall submit to the
1
Congress a report for such fiscal year with
2
respect to each State that includes the ag-
3
gregate value of supplemental nutrition as-
4
sistance program benefits reissued under
5
such regulations and the number of house-
6
holds to which such benefits were reissued.
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‘‘(iv) EVALUATION.—To maximize the
8
accessibility and security of electronic ben-
9
efit transfer cards, the Secretary shall pe-
10
riodically review and modify such regula-
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tions to take into account evolving tech-
12
nology and the threat landscape to better
13
protect against benefit theft.’’.
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Æ
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