SNAP Transparency Act of 2013

Summary: SNAP Transparency Act of 2013 - Amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to: (1) establish a uniform reporting system to enable retail stores participating in the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program) to collect and provide the Secretary with detailed information on SNAP-purchased food items, and (2) publish such information on the Internet.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``SNAP Transparency Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING A UNIFORM REPORTING SYSTEM.

    Section 4 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Issuance of Uniform Reporting Guidelines.--
            ``(1) Reporting guidelines for retail food stores.--Not 
        later than one year after the date of the enactment of the SNAP 
        Transparency Act of 2013, the Secretary shall issue guidelines 
        in accordance with paragraph (2) that establish a uniform 
        reporting system regarding the food items purchased partially 
        or completely with benefits from the supplemental nutrition 
        assistance program that can be applied with reasonable 
        consistency by each retail food store that redeems such 
        benefits. Such guidelines should be issued according to best 
        practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and analyses.
            ``(2) Objectives of guidelines.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The guidelines issued under 
                paragraph (1) shall provide direction to retail food 
                stores that redeem benefits under this program on how 
                to report on a quarterly basis the complete range, 
                identities, sizes, quantites, and costs of particular 
                food items purchased with such benefits. This uniform 
                reporting system shall ensure that the reports from 
                each retail food store are comparable.
                    ``(B) Objectives.--Specifically, the guidelines 
                shall provide direction on what information to include 
                to comply with the reporting requirements established 
                under paragraph (1):
                            ``(i) The established uniform, quarterly 
                        reporting system or form to be made available 
                        to participating retail food stores.
                            ``(ii) The identity (including label and 
                        brand name) of each food item purchased with 
                        such benefits in the reporting period.
                            ``(iii) The size of each food item 
                        purchased with such benefits in the reporting 
                        period.
                            ``(iv) The number of units of each 
                        identical food item purchased with such 
                        benefits in the reporting period.
                            ``(v) The aggregate cost of each identical 
                        food item purchased with such benefits in the 
                        reporting period.
                            ``(vi) The address of the retail food store 
                        in which the food item was purchased with such 
                        benefits in the reporting period.
                            ``(vii) Application of rigorous monitoring 
                        and evaluation methodologies to ensure that--
                                    ``(I) the total value of benefits 
                                redeemed by each reporting retail food 
                                store is equal to the total retail cost 
                                of food items purchased with such 
                                benefits reported in the reporting 
                                period; and
                                    ``(II) the accuracy of the 
                                information reported in the reporting 
                                period.
    ``(e) Submission and Publication of Reports.--
            ``(1) Submission of reports by retail food stores.--Not 
        later than 60 days after end of each calendar quarter, or 
        earlier if determined by the Secretary, and in accordance with 
        rules issued by the Secretary, each retail food store that 
        redeems benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance 
        program shall submit to the Secretary a report that complies 
        with subsection (d).
            ``(2) Publication of reports by secretary.--Not later than 
        90 days after the end of each calendar quarter, or earlier if 
        determined by the Secretary, the Secretary shall compile, and 
        shall publish on the Internet in a format searchable by the 
        public as compiled, the information received in the reports 
        submitted under paragraph (1) for such quarter. Such 
        information so compiled shall include--
                    ``(A) a comprehensive, timely, comparable, and 
                accessible information on the food items purchased with 
                benefits from the supplemental nutrition assistance 
                program, using the reporting requirements established 
                by the Secretary under subsection (d)(1);
                    ``(B) the identity (including label and brand name) 
                of each food item purchased with such benefits in the 
                reporting period;
                    ``(C) the size of each food item purchased with 
                such benefits in the reporting period;
                    ``(D) the number of units of each identical food 
                item purchased with such benefits in the reporting 
                period;
                    ``(E) the aggregate cost of each identical food 
                item purchased with such benefits in the reporting 
                period;
                    ``(F) the address of the retail food store in which 
                the food item was purchased with such benefits in the 
                reporting period; and
                    ``(G) with respect to each type of particular food 
                item identified, the average retail sale price of the 
                item purchased with such benefits.''.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS IF REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT MET.

    If the information described in section 4(e)(2) of the Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013(e)(2)) with respect to 
food items purchased with benefits from the supplemental nutrition 
assistance program is not provided as required under section 4(e) of 
such Act (7 U.S.C. 2013(e)), then the Secretary shall provide briefings 
to the appropriate congressional committees, along with a detailed 
explanation of why the requirements for publication on the Internet 
have not been met and when they will be met, with respect to each month 
for which such information is not published on the Internet.

SEC. 4. OFFSET.

    Of the amount appropriated to carry out the supplemental nutrition 
assistance program for each fiscal year, up to 5 percent shall be a 
available to carry out the amendment made by section 2 of this Act.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATES.

    (a) General Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), 
this Act and the amendment made by this Act shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Delayed Effective Date.--Subsection (e) of section 4 of the 
Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013), as added by section 2 
of this Act, shall take effect on the 1st day of the 1st calendar 
quarter that begins not less than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.