Sponsors (5)
The bill modernizes and hardens SNAP payment systems—improving security, speed of replacement, and transparency—at the cost of measurable implementation, compliance, and accessibility burdens for states, retailers, and some vulnerable beneficiaries.
All SNAP participants will get more secure, chip-enabled EBT cards and retailers will move to chip-enabled terminals, reducing in-person and online card skimming and benefit theft.
States and retailers can receive grants and reimbursements to offset vendor, chip, terminal, and postage costs, lowering budget barriers to modernizing EBT infrastructure.
SNAP households will regain access faster and face lower out‑of‑pocket costs because replacement cards must be issued within 3 business days and certain replacement fees are banned.
State agencies and retailers will face substantial upfront and ongoing costs and administrative burdens to meet upgrade, reporting, and free-replacement requirements, which could strain budgets and divert resources.
Upgrade costs, compliance burdens, and short implementation timelines may prompt some small or rural stores to stop accepting SNAP, reducing convenient access to food for beneficiaries.
Stricter security controls and new card/user interfaces could create usability barriers for elderly people and beneficiaries with low digital literacy, impeding their ability to access benefits.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 24, 2026 by Daniel Goldman · Last progress February 24, 2026
Requires stronger cybersecurity and upgraded payment technology for SNAP electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards and related systems. It mandates chip-enabled cards and terminals on a multi-year timeline, bans certain replacement fees, requires fast free replacement cards, authorizes grants/subgrants to help upgrade terminals, and creates new data collection and reporting on online benefit theft and system outages.