Appendix A legislation

Appendix A

Section 4011 of the Agricultural Act of 2014

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SEC. 4010. IMPROVING SECURITY OF FOOD ASSISTANCE.

Section 7(h)(8) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(h)(8)) is amended—

(1) in the paragraph heading, by striking “CARD FEE” and inserting “OF CARDS”;

(2) by striking “A State” and inserting the following:

“(A) FEES.—A State”; and

(3) by adding after subparagraph (A) (as so designated) the following:

“(B) PURPOSEFUL LOSS OF CARDS.—

1. IN GENERAL.—Subject to terms and conditions established by the Secretary in accordance with clause (ii), if a household makes excessive requests for re­placement of the electronic benefit transfer card of the household, the Secretary may require a State agency to decline to issue a replacement card to the household unless the household, upon request of the State agen­cy, provides an explanation for the loss of the card.

2. REQUIREMENTS.—The terms and conditions established by the Secretary shall provide that—

1. the household be given the opportunity to provide the requested explanation and meet the requirements under this paragraph promptly;

2. after an excessive number of lost cards, the head of the household shall be required to re­view program rights and responsibilities with State agency personnel authorized to make deter­minations under section 5(a); and

3. any action taken, including actions re­quired under section 6(b)(2), other than the with­holding of the electronic benefit transfer card until an explanation described in subclause (I) is pro­vided, shall be consistent with the due process protections under section 6(b) or 11(e)(10), as ap­propriate.

“(C) PROTECTING VULNERABLE PERSONS.—In imple­menting this paragraph, a State agency shall act to protect homeless persons, persons with disabilities, victims of crimes, and other vulnerable persons who lose electronic benefit transfer cards but are not intentionally committing fraud.

“(D) EFFECT ON ELIGIBILITY.—While a State may de­cline to issue an electronic benefits transfer card until a household satisfies the requirements under this para­graph, nothing in this paragraph shall be considered a de­nial of, or limitation on, the eligibility for benefits under section 5.”.

SEC. 4011. TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION FOR RETAIL FOOD STORES. (a) MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES.—Section 7(h) of the Food and Nu­trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(h)) (as amended by section 4030(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(14) MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES.—

“(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall approve retail food stores to redeem bene­fits through electronic means other than wired point of

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sale devices for electronic benefit transfer transactions, if the retail food stores—

1. establish recipient protections regarding pri­vacy, ease of use, access, and support similar to the protections provided for transactions made in retail food stores;

2. bear the costs of obtaining, installing, and maintaining mobile technologies, including mecha­nisms needed to process EBT cards and transaction fees;

3. demonstrate the foods purchased with bene­fits issued under this section through mobile tech­nologies are purchased at a price not higher than the price of the same food purchased by other methods used by the retail food store, as determined by the Secretary;

4. provide adequate documentation for each au­thorized transaction, as determined by the Secretary; and

5. meet other criteria as established by the Sec­retary.

“(B) DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ON ACCEPTANCE OF BEN­EFITS OF MOBILE TRANSACTIONS.—

“(i) IN GENERAL.—Before authorizing implementa­tion of subparagraph (A) in all States, the Secretary shall pilot the use of mobile technologies determined by the Secretary to be appropriate to test the feasi­bility and implications for program integrity, by allow­ing retail food stores to accept benefits from recipients of supplemental nutrition assistance through mobile transactions.

“(ii) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—To be eligible to participate in a demonstration project under clause (i), a retail food store shall submit to the Secretary for ap­proval a plan that includes—

1. a description of the technology;

2. the manner by which the retail food store will provide proof of the transaction to households;

3. the provision of data to the Secretary,

consistent with requirements established by the Secretary, in a manner that allows the Secretary to evaluate the impact of the demonstration on participant access, ease of use, and program integ­rity; and

4. such other criteria as the Secretary may require.

“(iii) DATE OF COMPLETION.—The demonstration projects under this subparagraph shall be completed and final reports submitted to the Secretary by not later than July 1, 2016.

“(C) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall—

“(i) by not later than January 1, 2017, authorize implementation of subparagraph (A) in all States, un­less the Secretary makes a finding, based on the data provided under subparagraph (B), that implementa-

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tion in all States is not in the best interest of the sup­plemental nutrition assistance program; and

“(ii) if the determination made in clause (i) is not to implement subparagraph (A) in all States, submit a report to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate that includes the basis of the finding.”.

(b) ACCEPTANCE OF BENEFITS THROUGH ON-LINE TRANS­ACTIONS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(k) OPTION TO ACCEPT PROGRAM BENEFITS THROUGH ON-LINE TRANSACTIONS.—

“(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (4), the Secretary shall approve retail food stores to accept benefits from recipi­ents of supplemental nutrition assistance through on-line transactions.

“(2) REQUIREMENTS TO ACCEPT BENEFITS.—A retail food store seeking to accept benefits from recipients of supplemental nutrition assistance through on-line transactions shall—

“(A) establish recipient protections regarding privacy, ease of use, access, and support similar to the protections

provided for transactions made in retail food stores;

“(B) ensure benefits are not used to pay delivery, or­dering, convenience, or other fees or charges;

“(C) clearly notify participating households at the time a food order is placed—

1. of any delivery, ordering, convenience, or other fee or charge associated with the food purchase; and

2. that any such fee cannot be paid with benefits provided under this Act;

“(D) ensure the security of on-line transactions by using the most effective technology available that the Sec­retary considers appropriate and cost-effective and that is comparable to the security of transactions at retail food stores; and

“(E) meet other criteria as established by the Sec­retary.

“(3) STATE AGENCY ACTION.—Each State agency shall en­sure that recipients of supplemental nutrition assistance can use benefits on-line as described in this subsection as appro­priate.

“(4) DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ON ACCEPTANCE OF BENEFITS THROUGH ON-LINE TRANSACTIONS.—

1. IN GENERAL.—Before the Secretary authorizes im­plementation of paragraph (1) in all States, the Secretary shall carry out a number of demonstration projects as de­termined by the Secretary to test the feasibility of allowing retail food stores to accept benefits through on-line trans­actions.

2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—To be eligible to par­ticipate in a demonstration project under subparagraph

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(A), a retail food store shall submit to the Secretary for ap­proval a plan that includes—

1. a method of ensuring that benefits may be used to purchase only eligible items under this Act;

2. a description of the method of educating par­ticipant households about the availability and oper­ation of on-line purchasing;

3. adequate testing of the on-line purchasing option prior to implementation;

4. the provision of data as requested by the Sec­retary for purposes of analyzing the impact of the project on participant access, ease of use, and program integrity;

5. reports on progress, challenges, and results, as determined by the Secretary; and

6. such other criteria, including security cri­teria, as established by the Secretary.

“(C) DATE OF COMPLETION.—The demonstration projects under this paragraph shall be completed and final reports submitted to the Secretary by not later than July 1, 2016.

“(5) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall—

“(A) by not later than January 1, 2017, authorize im­plementation of paragraph (1) in all States, unless the Sec­retary makes a finding, based on the data provided under paragraph (4), that implementation in all States is not in the best interest of the supplemental nutrition assistance program; and

“(B) if the determination made in subparagraph (A) is not to implement in all States, submit a report to the Com­mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate that includes the basis of the finding.”.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

1. Section 7(b) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(b)) is amended by striking “purchase food in retail food stores” and inserting “purchase food from re­tail food stores”.

2. Section 10 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2019) is amended in the first sentence by insert­ing “retail food stores authorized to accept and redeem benefits through on-line transactions shall be authorized to accept benefits prior to the delivery of food if the delivery occurs within a reasonable time of the purchase, as deter­mined by the Secretary,” after “food so purchased,”.

(c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section or an amend­ment made by this section alters any requirements of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) unless specifically au­thorized in this section or an amendment made by this section.

SEC. 4012. USE OF BENEFITS FOR PURCHASE OF COMMUNITY-SUP­PORTED AGRICULTURE SHARE.

Subsection (o)(4) of section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012) (as redesignated by section 4030(a)(4)) is amended by inserting “, or agricultural producers who market agri­cultural products directly to consumers” after “such food”.