SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR
CITIZENS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 2873
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: FEBRUARY 3, 2025
The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens
Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 2873.
This bill directs the Commissioners of Human Services and Health,
respectively, to provide information to certain benefit recipients
regarding card skimming and cloning and to replace stolen benefits
under fraudulent circumstances. Specifically, the Commissioner of
Human Services is responsible for implementing these provisions for
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Work
First New Jersey Program (WFNJ), while the Commissioner of Health
is responsible for implementing the provisions for the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC). The bill also appropriates the necessary funds to the
departments to support the provisions of the bill. As used under the
bill, “skimming” means the illegal installation of devices on point-of-
sale or automatic teller machine terminals to capture a cardholder’s
personal identification number and other data stored on the magnetic
strip of the electronic benefits transfer card; and “card cloning” means
making an unauthorized copy of an electronic benefits transfer card.
Under the bill, each commissioner is to provide information to
program recipients regarding the: risks of card skimming, card
cloning, and similar fraudulent methods; precautions a recipient can
take to avoid falling victim to fraudulent methods; claims process,
established under the bill, through which a recipient can have stolen
benefits replaced; and process by which a recipient can report stolen to
the appropriate department or to local law enforcement agencies. This
information is to be distributed to recipients, at a minimum, at the
point of enrollment and recertification in the program and with the
issuance of the recipient’s electronic benefits transfer card. Each
commissioner is also required to post the information on the
department’s website and at eligibility determining offices.
The bill mandates the commissioners to establish a claims process,
that mirrors the provisions of federal law regarding the replacement of
stolen SNAP benefits, by which a recipient’s stolen program benefits
can be replaced by either federal or State funds, subject to availability.
The bill also directs the commissioners to coordinate with vendors to
implement available precautions to reduce the vulnerability of 2
electronic benefits transfer cards to theft, such as the inclusion of an
embedded microchip in all electronic benefits transfer cards
Finally, the commissioners are required to report to the Governor
and the Legislature, 18 months following the effective date of the bill,
and annually thereafter, data regarding stolen and replaced program
benefits, as collected under the bill, as well as any other information
that demonstrates the departments’ efforts to protect recipients from
fraud.