[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2449 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2449

   To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to make permanent the 
    moratorium on benefit transaction fees, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 20, 2023

 Mr. Lujan (for himself and Mr. Welch) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to make permanent the 
    moratorium on benefit transaction fees, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Fee-Free Benefit 
Transactions Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FEE-FREE BENEFIT TRANSACTIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 7 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 
U.S.C. 2016) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (d), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``, including completeness of fraud protection 
        and fraud prevention tools and coverage of infrastructure 
        costs.'';
            (2) in subsection (f)(5)(B)(ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``shall consider'' and inserting 
                the following: ``shall--
                                    ``(I) consider'';
                    (B) in subclause (I) (as so designated), by 
                striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; 
                and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                                    ``(II) require State agencies to 
                                review existing technology and contract 
                                requirements during each contracting 
                                period to ensure that EBT technology 
                                reflects commercial standards to ensure 
                                security of benefits.''; and
            (3) in subsection (h)(13), by striking subparagraph (B) and 
        inserting the following:
                    ``(B) Other fees.--No State, or any agent, 
                contractor, or subcontractor of a State who facilitates 
                the provision of supplemental nutrition assistance 
                program benefits in that State, may impose a fee for--
                            ``(i) switching (as defined in subsection 
                        (j)(1)) or routing those benefits;
                            ``(ii) costs to implement subsections (d) 
                        and (f)(5)(B); or
                            ``(iii) other costs associated with 
                        updating the EBT processing infrastructure.''.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in the amendments made by 
subsection (a) shall modify or affect the provisions of title IV of 
division HH of the Consolidation Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 
117-328), or any agency action taken pursuant to those provisions.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
October 1, 2023.
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