II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1593 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require State electronic 

benefit transfer contracts to treat wireless program retail food stores 

in the same manner as wired program retail food stores. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require 

State electronic benefit transfer contracts to treat wireless program retail food stores in the same manner as 

wired program retail food stores. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(h) of the Food and Nu5 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(h)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

2 through (D) as subparagraphs (B) through (E), 

3 respectively; 

4 (B) by inserting before subparagraph (B) 

5 (as so redesignated) the following: 

6 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

7 ‘‘(i) COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED AGRI8 CULTURE PROGRAM.—The term ‘commu9 nity-supported agriculture program’ or 

10 ‘CSA’ means a farm business or a group of 

11 agricultural producers that form a partner12 ship with consumers through which con13 sumers buy a subscription for farm prod14 ucts in advance and the farm business or 

15 group of agricultural producers commits to 

16 supplying and delivering the products to a 

17 common distribution point or directly to 

18 the consumers. 

19 ‘‘(ii) FARMERS MARKET.—The term 

20 ‘farmers market’ means a regularly sched21 uled assembly of 2 or more agricultural 

22 producers for the direct sale of locally 

23 grown fresh fruits and vegetables and 

24 other staple foods to consumers. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) FARM STAND; ROADSIDE

2 STAND.— 

3 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The terms 

4 ‘farm stand’ and ‘roadside stand’ 

5 mean a retail outlet for the direct sale 

6 of locally grown fresh fruits and vege7 tables and other staple foods in rural 

8 or urban areas. 

9 ‘‘(II) INCLUSION.—The terms 

10 ‘farm stand’ and ‘roadside stand’ may 

11 include a single stall in a farmers 

12 market. 

13 ‘‘(iv) GREEN CART.—The term ‘green 

14 cart’ means a mobile retail food vendor 

15 who sells fresh fruits and vegetables on a 

16 regular basis from an unmotorized cart. 

17 ‘‘(v) ROUTE VENDOR.— 

18 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The term 

19 ‘route vendor’ means a mobile retail 

20 food vendor who sells unprepared food 

21 from a vehicle directly to consumers 

22 along a scheduled route or by ar23 ranged delivery. 

24 ‘‘(II) INCLUSION.—The term 

25 ‘route vendor’ includes vendors who 


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1 provide food services in disaster or 

2 other emergency situations. 

3 ‘‘(vi) WIRELESS RETAILER.—The 

4 term ‘wireless retailer’ includes— 

5 ‘‘(I) a farmers market; 

6 ‘‘(II) a farm stand; 

7 ‘‘(III) a green cart; 

8 ‘‘(IV) a route vendor; 

9 ‘‘(V) an entity operating a com10 munity-supported agriculture pro11 gram; and 

12 ‘‘(VI) an individual farmer affili13 ated with an entity described in sub14 clauses (I) through (V).’’; 

15 (C) in subparagraph (C) (as so redesig16 nated) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and in17 serting ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; 

18 (D) in clause (i) of subparagraph (E) (as 

19 so redesignated), by inserting ‘‘, including wire20 less technology’’ before the semicolon at the 

21 end; and 

22 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(F) STATE FLEXIBILITY FOR WIRELESS

24 EBT SYSTEMS.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

25 State agency may— 


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1 ‘‘(i) procure and implement any wire2 less electronic benefit transfer system that 

3 the State agency considers to be appro4 priate and that meets all industry security 

5 standards; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) use appropriate wireless tech7 nology available to the State agency in im8 plementing the wireless electronic benefit 

9 transfer system, including smart phone 

10 technology and other technologies, so long 

11 as the technologies meet all industry secu12 rity standards.’’; 

13 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (G), by striking 

15 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

16 (B) in subparagraph (H), by striking the 

17 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

18 and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(I) a requirement that, for purposes of 

21 program participation, State agencies and the 

22 Food and Nutrition Service treat wireless retail23 ers in the same manner as retail food stores 

24 that use wired electronic benefit transfer equip25 ment by providing the retail food stores with 


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1 wireless electronic benefit transfer equipment 

2 that ensures immediate benefit account 

3 verification; 

4 ‘‘(J) a system for wireless retail food 

5 stores to receive funds in an amount not ex6 ceeding the cost of a wireless point-of-sale ter7 minal if alternative wireless technology is used; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(K) the potential for entering into a con10 tract or memoranda of understanding with a 

11 statewide nonprofit organization, such as a 

12 statewide farmers market association, to assist 

13 the State agency by providing outreach, train14 ing, and administration in wireless electronic 

15 benefit transfer equipment deployment at mul16 tiple-vendor farmers markets, particularly in 

17 cases in which scrip (such as farmers market 

18 tokens) is used to simplify program participa19 tion by agricultural producers and vendors.’’; 

20 (3) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

21 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

22 end; 

23 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 

24 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

25 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(iii) in the case of wireless retailers, 

2 wireless electronic benefit and wireless 

3 EBT connection services are available.’’; 

4 (4) in paragraph (5), by inserting before the pe5 riod at the end ‘‘, including wireless electronic ben6 efit systems that enable all wireless retailers to pro7 vide for improved access to nutritious foods in areas 

8 lacking such access, and in disaster-recovery situa9 tions’’; 

10 (5) by redesignating the second paragraph (12) 

11 (relating to interchange fees) as paragraph (13); and 

12 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(14) NON-EBT TRANSACTIONS.—Wireless 

14 EBT equipment provided to an authorized retailer 

15 may be used for non-EBT transactions (such as 

16 credit and debit card transactions) only if the re17 tailer bears all costs associated with those non-EBT 

18 transactions.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 16(a) of 

20 the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025(a)) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, including 

23 wireless access fees’’ after ‘‘the State’’; 

24 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

25 end; and 


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1 (3) by striking ‘‘: Provided, That the’’ and in2 serting ‘‘, and (9) outreach and training for farmers 

3 markets and other vendors defined in section 

4 7(h)(1)(A) in wireless electronic benefit transfer 

5 equipment deployment and operations, particularly 

6 in cases in which scrip (such as farmers market to7 kens) is used to facilitate and simplify program par8 ticipation by agricultural producers and vendors. 

9 The’’. 

Æ 


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