Information Collection: Trafficking Controls and Fraud Investigations (Card Replacement)

Summary

This information collection supports the request to reinstate an expired information collection for an information collection request (ICR). The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (the Act), as amended, specifies national eligibility standards and imposes certain administrative requirements on state agencies in administering the program. The Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA) is still legally required to collect this data and is thereby continuing to collect in violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Federal regulations at 274.6(b)(6) (Appendix A) require that state agencies monitor EBT card replacement requests and send notices to households when they request four cards within a 12- month period. The state agency may determine a threshold for excessive card replacements, which must not to be less than four replacement cards in a 12-month period. alerting the household that their account is being monitored for potential trafficking, misuse, or fraudulent use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Request for Comments

Comments regarding this information collection received by Nov. 23, 2026 will be considered. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website reginfo.gov.

Find this particular information collection by selecting "Currently under 30-day Review-Open for Public Comments" or by using the search function. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such people are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.+

Need and Use of the Information

This statement supports the request to reinstate an expired information collection for an information collection related to collection to monitor excessive replacement EBT cards to reduce SNAP fraud waste and abuse by discouraging SNAP benefit trafficking. FNA is still legally required to collect this data and thereby continuing to collect it in violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Per federal regulations at 7 CFR 274.6(b)(5) and 7 CFR 274.6(6), state agencies must set a threshold on excessive replacement cards and monitor household requests for replacement cards. Once the threshold has been exceeded, the state agency has two options. They may either provide a notice to the client to alert the household that they are monitoring their account for potential, suspicious activity.

If another replacement card is subsequently requested and trafficking is suspected, the state agency shall refer that case to the state's fraud investigation unit. Or the state agency may instead opt to notify the household in writing that the state agency is withholding the card until contact is made. After the household has contacted the state agency, the replacement card will be issued.