NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A699
SPONSOR: Gonzalez-Rojas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to implementing an
electronic benefit transfer system
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Requires the implementation of an electronic benefit transfer system.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 95 of the social services law by adding a new
subdivision 12 which allows the office to implement an electronic bene-
fit transfer system utilizing industry-standard commercial electronic
funds transfer technology. This includes the use of EMV chip cards by
June twenty- first, two thousand twenty-six.
Section 2 sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In August 2022 alone, over 2,208 New Yorkers had SNAP funds stolen,
totaling a value of more than $700,000 because of Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) skimming. SNAP skimming is the practice of
individuals using devices and attaching them to point-of-sale (POS)
machines/PIN pads to steal card numbers and other information from cred-
it, debit, and EBT cards. The loss of funds has had a devastating impact
on families such as skipping meals until the next grocery pay period.
The process of skimming retrieves data from the magnetic strip on an
individual's card, which is then used to record the cardholder's PINs.
According to VISA, EMV chip cards decreased fraud by 87 percent from
2015-2019 because it has higher amounts of encryption technology on the
chip.
This legislation would allow the state to address the initial problem by
implementing EMV computer chip cards to protect public assistance funds
from being stolen from families who are already experiencing food inse-
curity and difficult financial times.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: Introduced and reported to Social Services Committee
2024: Introduced and reported to Social Services Committee
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately,
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
699
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS, ROZIC, MITAYNES, MAMDANI, HEVESI,
DE LOS SANTOS, SIMONE, ANDERSON, SHIMSKY -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Social Services
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to implementing an
electronic benefit transfer system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 95 of the social services law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision 12 to read as follows:
3 12. (a) To the extent not inconsistent with federal law and regu-
4 lations, not later than June twenty-first, two thousand twenty-seven,
5 the office shall implement an electronic benefit transfer system using
6 industry-standard commercial electronic funds transfer technology,
7 including, at a minimum, the use of EMV computer chip cards.
8 (b) The office shall upgrade the electronic benefit system as required
9 pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision as soon as practicable.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00986-01-5
