Res. No. 839

Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, A03578/S00403 to establish a SNAP and cash assistance fraud victims compensation fund.

By Council Members Avilés, Rivera and Cabán

Whereas, In December 2023, 1.73 million New York City residents were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal program to provide food assistance to needy Americans, and 499,552 New Yorkers were enrolled in the Cash Assistance Program (CA), a federal program that provides temporary cash assistance for low-income Americans to help with critical expenses, such as rent or electricity; and

Whereas, These vital benefits for low-income individuals and families have become lucrative opportunities for malicious actors looking to defraud the most vulnerable; and

Whereas, SNAP and CA are issued as physical cards with magnetic strips and a lack of smart chips, making them susceptible to skimming as they do not possess the industry standard EMV chips - other common types of theft include electronic benefit card cloning and phishing; and

Whereas, According to Newsweek, New York has become the epicenter of stolen benefits with the highest amounts of SNAP theft claims; and

Whereas, In response to the plaguing issue of benefit fraud, the federal passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2023 and 2025 contained a provision to allocate funding for states to provide funds for the replacement of stolen SNAP and  CA benefits; and

Whereas, The Human Resources Administration (HRA), the administering agency of SNAP and CA in NYC, began accepting claims for replacement benefits on August 21, 2023 through December 20, 2024; and

Whereas, HRA approved a total of 120,000 distinct skimming claims and $47.7 million in replacement benefits, with replacement SNAP benefits representing roughly 90 percent, or $43 million, of that total value in the years 2023 to 2024; and

Whereas, The funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and 2025 was only temporary, and Congress, currently, has not issued a continuation of the monies; and

Whereas, As a result, New Yorkers who had their benefits skimmed after the December 20, 2024, deadline cannot get their benefits replaced: illustrating the need for a victims compensation fund; and

Whereas, A03578 and S00403 were introduced in the New York State Legislature to allow for the reimbursements due to fraud of SNAP and CA benefits to become a permanent program on the state level; and

Whereas, According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, SNAP improves food security, offers benefits that enable families to purchase healthier diets, and frees up resources that can be used for health-promoting activities, medical care, and health outcomes; and

Whereas, According to City Harvest, 1.3 million New Yorkers face food insecurity, 1 in 4 children face food insecurity, and there has been a 75 percent increase in monthly visits to food pantries and soup kitchens since 2019; and

Whereas, According to New York State Senator Gillibrand, “SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have to decrease hunger and food insecurity, and these benefits form a crucial lifeline for thousands of low-income New Yorkers;” and

Whereas, A loss of SNAP and CA benefits due to fraudulent activity and bad actors jeopardizes the health and safety of the most vulnerable New Yorkers; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, A03578/S00403 to establish a SNAP and cash assistance fraud victims compensation fund.

DF

LS #19126

3/28/2025