The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening protections against Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit theft.

House Bill 2540, sponsored by state Rep. Dan Williams, D-Chester, the majority chairman of the Human Services Committee, would require Pennsylvania to implement chip-enabled Electronic Benefit Transfer cards by January 2028.

The security measure is intended to combat SNAP benefit theft caused by skimming devices that capture card data from magnetic stripes at point-of-sale terminals. More than $15 million in SNAP benefits were stolen through skimming in 2024, according to the Office of State Inspector General.

“Almost everyone carries a debit card or a credit card equipped with chip-enabled technology, so these protections need to extend to public resources as well,” Williams said. “HB 2540 is a step in the right direction to help provide that kind of security for our most vulnerable populations.”

A feasibility study by the state Department of Human Services estimated that the total cost of the transition to chip-enabled cards would be about $17 million and it would take about 6-8 months for the project to be carried out.

Currently, there are just over 1 million active EBT accounts in the state, according to the study.

The bill would provide new chip-enabled cards to SNAP recipients automatically, eliminating the need for a separate application. Current magnetic-stripe cards would continue to work while the state phases in the new cards.

Protecting SNAP benefits by securing EBT cards from fraud will provide an added layer of accountability and assurance for taxpayers, making it a “universal good,” Williams said.

The bill’s co-sponsor, state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, the minority chairman of the Human Services Committee, emphasized the bipartisan collaboration on the bill during a June committee meeting.

“There’s nothing worse than when someone is in the checkout lane, planning to pay for their groceries with their access card, only to find out that their funds were stolen,” Heffley said. “Seeing all of the money that has been stolen already, it’s great that we’re working in a bipartisan manner to get this done now.”

After passing the full House unanimously, HB 2540 now will go to the Senate for consideration. The bill was originally introduced in the House Human Services Committee in May.

A similar Senate bill is also moving through the state legislature. Senate Bill 362, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, would make EBT card skimming a separate criminal offense in Pennsylvania and substantially increase penalties, turning smaller thefts and attempted thefts into felonies and permanently barring convicted offenders from receiving public assistance. The bill was approved by the Health and Human Services Committee on June 9 and is also now awaiting consideration by the full Senate.