Expanding SNAP Options Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 313 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to expand online benefit redemption options under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 12, 2021 Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. SMITH, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri- culture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to expand online benefit redemption options under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, 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 ‘‘Expanding SNAP Op- 4 tions Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. ONLINE PORTAL FOR SNAP BENEFIT REDEMPTION. 6 Section 7(h)(14) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 7 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(h)(14)) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 313 IS (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘Subject 1 to subparagraph (B), the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 2 (2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 3 the following: 4 ‘‘(B) EBT ONLINE REDEMPTION POR- 5 TAL.— 6 ‘‘(i) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this 7 subparagraph is to expand options for and 8 access to food for eligible households by 9 making the online redemption of program 10 benefits, including the acceptance of EBT 11 cards, more widely available to grocery 12 stores, small retailers, and farmers who 13 face barriers in implementing their own 14 online payment portals. 15 ‘‘(ii) CONTRACTS.—Not later than 16 180 days after the date of enactment of 17 the Expanding SNAP Options Act of 18 2021, the Secretary shall award on a com- 19 petitive basis 1 or more contracts to 1 or 20 more eligible entities described in clause 21 (iii) to develop an online portal, to be 22 known as the ‘EBT Online Redemption 23 Portal’— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 313 IS ‘‘(I) to allow program partici- 1 pants to use online or mobile elec- 2 tronic benefits transactions, including 3 through the acceptance of EBT cards, 4 to purchase program foods from, and 5 make online payments to, authorized 6 program retailers under the supple- 7 mental nutrition assistance program; 8 and 9 ‘‘(II) to facilitate food purchase 10 delivery for program participants 11 using the transactions described in 12 subclause (I). 13 ‘‘(iii) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—An eligible 14 entity referred to in clause (ii) is any for- 15 profit or nonprofit entity with demon- 16 strable expertise in the development, oper- 17 ation, or maintenance of electronic pay- 18 ment systems (including systems with ad- 19 vanced security protocols), which may in- 20 clude expertise in benefits management or 21 administration of State systems, as deter- 22 mined by the Secretary. 23 ‘‘(iv) APPLICATION; PORTAL FEA- 24 TURES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 313 IS ‘‘(I) APPLICATION.—An eligible 1 entity shall submit to the Secretary 2 an application at such time, in such 3 manner, and containing such informa- 4 tion as the Secretary may require, in- 5 cluding— 6 ‘‘(aa) a description of how 7 the eligible entity plans to imple- 8 ment the requirements described 9 in clause (v); and 10 ‘‘(bb) a beta plan that has 11 been user-tested. 12 ‘‘(II) PORTAL FEATURES.—In 13 awarding a contract to an eligible en- 14 tity under clause (ii), the Secretary 15 shall give preference to an eligible en- 16 tity that demonstrates an ability to 17 implement the following features of an 18 EBT Online Redemption Portal: 19 ‘‘(aa) Client-facing tech- 20 nology with a primary preference 21 for mobile device or smartphone 22 application. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 313 IS ‘‘(bb) Fail-safe systems to 1 maintain privacy and online secu- 2 rity of data. 3 ‘‘(cc) Ability to redirect a 4 consumer to an existing online 5 platform of a vendor, if applica- 6 ble. 7 ‘‘(dd) Ability to update as 8 technologies evolve. 9 ‘‘(ee) Ease of operation for 10 program participants, including 11 multilingual functionality. 12 ‘‘(ff) Interoperability with 13 delivery technologies and inter- 14 faces. 15 ‘‘(gg) Identification of par- 16 ticipating retailers within geo- 17 graphic proximity to the user. 18 ‘‘(hh) Ability to perform sin- 19 gle transactions using mixed ten- 20 der, including a single trans- 21 action for eligible food items 22 using an EBT card and non- 23 eligible items using another form 24 of payment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 313 IS ‘‘(ii) Adherence to a com- 1 prehensive business continuity 2 and disaster recovery plan— 3 ‘‘(AA) to allow the por- 4 tal to recover from any 5 interruption of service; and 6 ‘‘(BB) that includes 7 sufficient back-up systems, 8 equipment, facilities, and 9 trained personnel to imple- 10 ment the plan. 11 ‘‘(v) REQUIREMENTS.— 12 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Online 13 EBT Redemption Portal developed by 14 the eligible entity awarded the con- 15 tract under clause (ii) shall— 16 ‘‘(aa) enable the integrated 17 processing of an online EBT 18 transaction by providing a plat- 19 form and facilitating the pur- 20 chasing interaction between the 21 consumer, retailer, third-party 22 processors (for EBT card proc- 23 essing and the secure online 24 entry of a personal identification 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 313 IS number), and delivery vendor, as 1 applicable; 2 ‘‘(bb) to deter fraud, have in 3 place for program participants 4 privacy and security protections, 5 similar to protections provided 6 under existing electronic benefit 7 transfer methods, including entry 8 of a personal identification num- 9 ber in a manner that complies 10 with the guidelines of leading na- 11 tional consensus standards orga- 12 nizations, as determined by the 13 Secretary, for encrypting per- 14 sonal identification number 15 entry; 16 ‘‘(cc) be secure and operate 17 in a manner that maintains pro- 18 gram integrity, including food 19 item eligibility; 20 ‘‘(dd) be available in an ini- 21 tial or beta version not later than 22 120 days after the date on which 23 the eligible entity is awarded the 24 contract; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 313 IS ‘‘(ee) be ready to be fully de- 1 ployed in all States not later than 2 180 days after the date described 3 in item (dd); 4 ‘‘(ff) be available for use by 5 any retail food store or wholesale 6 food concern authorized under 7 section 9 to accept and redeem 8 benefits under the supplemental 9 nutrition assistance program— 10 ‘‘(AA) at no charge be- 11 yond a nominal fee that is 12 not more than reasonably 13 necessary to support mainte- 14 nance of the portal and sub- 15 ject to the approval of the 16 Secretary; and 17 ‘‘(BB) on an applica- 18 tion-based and browser- 19 based platform for 20 smartphones and a browser- 21 based online platform for 22 tablets and computers; 23 ‘‘(gg) adhere to commercial 24 standards for service level avail- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 313 IS ability to ensure the viability of 1 the portal and the use of the por- 2 tal by retail food stores and 3 wholesale food concerns author- 4 ized under section 9 to accept 5 and redeem benefits under the 6 supplemental nutrition assistance 7 program; and 8 ‘‘(hh) perform ongoing 9 maintenance services and retailer 10 enrollment and termination of 11 enrollment activities to ensure 12 continuous operability of the por- 13 tal. 14 ‘‘(II) EVALUATION OF BETA 15 VERSION.—The Secretary shall con- 16 duct a review of the initial or beta 17 version of the Online EBT Redemp- 18 tion Portal under subclause (I)(dd), 19 including by soliciting feedback from 20 program participants. 21 ‘‘(vi) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not 22 later than 240 days after the date of en- 23 actment of the Expanding SNAP Options 24 Act of 2021, the Secretary shall submit to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 313 IS Congress a report on the status of activi- 1 ties carried out under this subparagraph. 2 ‘‘(vii) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 3 TIONS.—There is appropriated to the Sec- 4 retary, out of funds of the Treasury not 5 otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000 to 6 provide under the contract described in 7 clause (ii).’’. 8 SEC. 3. BROAD ACCEPTANCE OF SNAP BENEFITS THROUGH 9 ONLINE TRANSACTIONS. 10 Section 7(k) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 11 (7 U.S.C. 2016(k)) is amended— 12 (1) by striking ‘‘on-line’’ each place it appears 13 and inserting ‘‘online’’; 14 (2) in paragraph (1)— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘Subject to paragraph (4), 16 the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 17 (B) by inserting ‘‘in any State’’ after 18 ‘‘stores’’; and 19 (3) by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the 20 following: 21 ‘‘(4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 22 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 313 IS ‘‘(i) COVERED ENTITY.—The term 1 ‘covered entity’ means a public or private 2 nonprofit entity. 3 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term 4 ‘eligible entity’ means a retail food store or 5 wholesale food concern authorized under 6 section 9 to accept and redeem benefits 7 under the supplemental nutrition assist- 8 ance program. 9 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER.— 10 The Secretary, acting through the Adminis- 11 trator of the Food and Nutrition Service, shall, 12 on a competitive basis, award 1 or more grants 13 to, or enter into 1 or more cooperative agree- 14 ments with, 1 or more covered entities to estab- 15 lish a technical assistance center, to be known 16 as the ‘SNAP Online Purchasing Technical As- 17 sistance Center’, to provide— 18 ‘‘(i) to State agencies, eligible entities, 19 and program participants information on 20 and technical assistance with, as applica- 21 ble— 22 ‘‘(I) accepting program benefits 23 through online transactions; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 313 IS ‘‘(II) using the EBT Online Re- 1 demption Portal described in sub- 2 section (h)(14)(B); 3 ‘‘(III) in the case of State agen- 4 cies, conducting outreach to eligible 5 entities to ensure that those eligible 6 entities are informed of the technical 7 assistance provided by the center; 8 ‘‘(IV) research, training, and best 9 practices relating to redeeming pro- 10 gram benefits through online trans- 11 actions; and 12 ‘‘(V) facilitating communication 13 between eligible entities, applicable 14 State agencies, and the Department 15 of Agriculture; and 16 ‘‘(ii) to eligible entities direct grants 17 to defray the technological costs of car- 18 rying out the activities described in sub- 19 clauses (I) and (II) of clause (i). 20 ‘‘(C) QUALIFICATIONS.—At least 1 covered 21 entity that receives a grant or enters into a co- 22 operative agreement under subparagraph (B) 23 shall have expertise in providing technical as- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 313 IS sistance to food retailers operating under a 1 Federal nutrition program. 2 ‘‘(D) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY.— 3 In providing technical assistance to eligible enti- 4 ties, the SNAP Online Purchasing Technical 5 Assistance Center shall give priority to eligible 6 entities that are small and limited-resource re- 7 tailers. 8 ‘‘(E) FUNDING.—There is appropriated to 9 the Secretary, out of funds of the Treasury not 10 otherwise appropriated, $75,000,000 to carry 11 out this paragraph, to remain available until ex- 12 pended, of which not more than 3 percent may 13 be used by the Secretary for administrative ex- 14 penses. 15 ‘‘(5) PUBLICATION OF ONLINE VENDORS.—The 16 Secretary shall maintain on the website of the De- 17 partment of Agriculture a publicly available listing, 18 organized and searchable by region, locality, and 19 State, of all approved retail food stores accepting 20 benefits from recipients of supplemental nutrition 21 assistance, including through online transactions.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:08 Feb 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S313.IS S313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS