[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9649 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9649

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the accuracy of 
    estimates of retail food store trafficking in the supplemental 
  nutrition assistance program benefits, to strengthen penalties for 
    trafficking violations, to require reporting information to the 
                   Congress, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2026

 Mr. Burchett introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to improve the accuracy of 
    estimates of retail food store trafficking in the supplemental 
  nutrition assistance program benefits, to strengthen penalties for 
    trafficking violations, to require reporting information to the 
                   Congress, 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 ``Stop Retail Food Store SNAP 
Trafficking Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO RETAIL FOOD STORE SNAP BENEFITS TRAFFICKING 
              ESTIMATES.

    Section 17 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2026) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Retailer Benefits Trafficking Estimates.--
            ``(1) The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of 
        the Food and Nutrition Service, shall--
                    ``(A) evaluate and update key assumptions used in 
                estimating the trafficking of supplemental nutrition 
                assistance program benefits by approved retail food 
                stores (including assumptions regarding the percentage 
                of benefits trafficked by store type or size);
                    ``(B) validate such assumptions using independent 
                data sources, such as transaction data from known cases 
                of trafficking in such benefits;
                    ``(C) include ranges reflecting uncertainty in all 
                public reports of such estimates; and
                    ``(D) assess the benefits and costs of more 
                frequent reauthorization of retail food store (more 
                often than every 5 years) for a sample of such stores 
                at high risk of such trafficking, and implement changes 
                to such reauthorization process as appropriate.
            ``(2) Not later than 18 months after effective date of this 
        subsection, and every 3 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 
        publish an updated national retailer trafficking report that 
        describes the results of the actions taken under subsection 
        (a).''.

SEC. 3. STRENGTHENED PENALTIES FOR TRAFFICKING SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION 
              ASSISTANCE PROGRAM BENEFITS.

    (a) Civil Money Penalties.--Section 12 of the Food and Nutrition 
Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2021) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking by striking 
        ``$100,000'' and inserting ``$250,000''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ``$100,000'' and 
        inserting ``$250,000''.
    (b) Disqualification and Penalties.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
shall promulgate regulations to ensure that--
            (1) the permanent disqualification for approval 
        reauthorization of retail food stores that traffic in 
        supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits issued under 
        such Act may be accompanied by civil money penalties; and
            (2) penalties better deter violations of law for such 
        trafficking are consistent with authority granted to the 
        Secretary under prior law.

SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a brief report on--
            (1) progress implementing the this Act and the amendments 
        made this Act;
            (2) updated estimates of trafficking by retail food stores 
        in supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits issues 
        under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 
        seq.); and
            (3) the number of investigations, disqualifications, and 
        penalties imposed with respect to such trafficking by retail 
        food stores.
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