Bill > ACR183

Introduced Session

This resolution urges the President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the United States Department of Agriculture to take all steps necessary to promptly find a comprehensive resolution to the rising levels of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit fraud occurring throughout the country. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides assistance to supplement the food budget of low-income families nationwide. The program is regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered by the Division of Family Development, within the Department of Human Services, in conjunction with the county welfare agencies. Fraud of SNAP benefits has risen to an alarming level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the most frequent culprit of lost benefits related to "skimming" devices. Skimming occurs when devices are illegally installed on point-of-sale terminals to capture a cardholder's personal identification number and other data stored on the magnetic strip of the EBT card. Criminals use the data to duplicate the EBT card and access the victim's SNAP benefits. In December 2022, Congress addressed the growing concern of stolen SNAP benefits in the passage of the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023," which allows state agencies to temporarily use federal funds to replace SNAP benefits lost to skimming and other forms of fraud between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024. While these federal efforts to protect SNAP beneficiaries from the consequences of skimming are a positive step in the right direction, the New Jersey State Legislature encourages its federal partners to take additional actions to more aggressively safeguard this vulnerable community; including authorizing the permanent replacement of stolen SNAP benefits with federal funds, retroactive to October 2021, and the provision of regulations and funds to support more secure card payment systems for SNAP benefits.

Committee Categories

Herbert Conaway (D)*,  Roy Freiman (D)*,  Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Human Services Committee (on 06/08/2023)

Official Document