Sponsors (2)
The bill expands and modernizes remote access to nutrition benefits and WIC services—making enrollment and services more convenient and accessible for many low‑income people—while shifting costs, administrative burdens, fraud/privacy risks, and equity challenges to states, taxpayers, and digitally underserved participants.
Low-income individuals, children, and families can apply, recertify, and receive benefits (including EBT/food instruments) remotely by phone/video or mail, reducing travel, speeding enrollment, and preventing coverage gaps.
WIC participants (parents, pregnant and postpartum women) can access nutrition education and breastfeeding support remotely, increasing uptake of counseling and support for people with transportation/scheduling barriers.
People with disabilities gain entitlement to accessible appointment formats (e.g., two‑way video or other interactive formats), reducing barriers to applying for and recertifying nutrition benefits.
State agencies and taxpayers may face substantial upfront and ongoing costs (technology, mailing, training, vendors) to implement remote certification, issuance, and data-collection requirements.
Temporary certification, remote issuance, and mailed EBT cards raise risks of improper payments, fraud, card theft, or misuse if follow-up eligibility checks and security controls are delayed or weak.
Participants without reliable internet, smartphones, or digital literacy (and those in areas with poor connectivity) may be left worse off if services shift toward remote/digital delivery, deepening access inequities.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Permits remote (phone, two‑way video) certification and remote issuance of WIC food instruments, sets anthropometric data timelines, and requires a one‑year report on remote tech use.
Introduced February 11, 2026 by Roger Wayne Marshall · Last progress February 11, 2026
Allows WIC participants to be offered certification, recertification, and nutrition-risk evaluations in person, by phone, by two-way real-time video, or other two-way real-time formats that meet disability-access requirements. Requires State agencies to plan for and collect required height/weight/anthropometric data within set timeframes when certification occurs remotely, expands permitted methods for delivering food instruments (including mail and remote issuance), and orders a one-year report to Congress on the use and impact of remote technologies in WIC.