File #: Int 1500-2025    Version: * Name: Adding a 311 complaint category for SNAP theft.
Type: Introduction Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on Technology
On agenda: 12/4/2025
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to adding a 311 complaint category for SNAP theft.
Sponsors: Susan Zhuang
Council Member Sponsors: 1
Summary: This bill would require the Commissioner of Information Technology and Telecommunications to create a specific 311 category through which the public can submit complaints regarding thefts of their benefits issued through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance program (SNAP). The category would be available on all relevant 311 platforms, including its website and mobile platforms. The Commissioner would be required to send data from these complaints to the respective police precinct as well as to the Department of Social Services (DSS) on a monthly basis. DSS would be required to publish quarterly reports on these complaints, including dates and locations of where the theft occurred.
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1500, 2. Int. No. 1500, 3. December 4, 2025 - Stated Meeting Agenda

Int. No. 1500

 

By Council Member Zhuang

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to adding a 311 complaint category for SNAP theft.

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Chapter 3 of title 23 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 23-313 to read as follows:

§ 23-313 SNAP theft. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

Emergency feeding program. The term “emergency feeding program” means a food pantry or soup kitchen.

SNAP. The term “SNAP” means the supplemental nutritional assistance program.

EBT card. The term “EBT card” means an electronic benefits card.

b. SNAP theft complaint category. The department of information technology and telecommunications shall implement and maintain through its 311 customer service center the capability for the public to file a complaint under a category entitled “SNAP theft,” including on its website, mobile device platforms, and any other platform on which the center routinely utilizes categories to sort complaints. Such complaint input form shall include the location an EBT card was last used before the theft occurred, the amount from the benefit that was stolen, the number of fraudulent purchases made, the date each fraudulent purchase was made, whether any engagement with the police department occurred, and the location or locations where the fraudulent purchases were made, indicated by a street address or  the nearest intersection and whether such location was a business. Such complaints shall be referred to the relevant police precinct and to the department of social services. The commissioner of information technology and telecommunications shall share all complaint information with the commissioner of the department of social services on a monthly basis.

c. Report. Beginning no later than 60 days after the effective date of this local law and every three months thereafter, the commissioner of social services shall publish a report on its website relating to information received covering the period since the last published report under the 311 complaint category of  “SNAP theft” required by subdivision b of this section. All data in such report shall be reported in a machine-readable format. Such report shall include a table in which each row references each such complaint, indicated by a unique identification number. Each such row shall include the following information, as well as any other information the commissioner of social services deems appropriate, set forth in separate columns:

1. The unique identification number required under this subdivision;

2. Any actions taken by the department of social services to respond to the complaint of SNAP theft or prevent future SNAP theft;

3. The precinct to which that the complaint of SNAP theft was referred;

2. The zip code of the fraudulent purchase or purchases that are the subject of the complaint;

4. The zip code that the EBT card was last used before the theft occurred;

5. The amount of the benefit that was stolen; and

6. The date of the fraudulent purchase or purchases that are the subject of the complaint.

d. Resources. Upon receipt of a SNAP theft complaint referral by the department of information technology and telecommunications, the department of social services shall make resources available to the complainant, including, but not limited to:

1. Information on emergency feeding programs, including the locations of each emergency feeding program and the hours of operation for such locations; and

2. Information on how to access any electronic mobile applications related to SNAP or EBT cards.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 120 days after it becomes law.

 

ACK

LS #20378/20381

11/13/2025