Albany, NY – Today, Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Khaleel Anderson, Yudelka Tapia, Grace Lee, legislators, advocates, and impacted New Yorkers rallied in the halls of the Capitol during the New York State Legislative Budget Hearing on Human Services to call for the passage of vital legislation to combat SNAP benefits skimming – a widespread issue that robs low-income New Yorkers of essential lifelines and costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually. According to the USDA, New Yorkers submitted more than 100,000 stolen benefit claims to New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), which comprised $33,834,029 of benefits paid out—nearly 19 percent of the nationwide totals. However, since the replacement program has ended, numbers are likely higher, leaving thousands of New Yorkers without critical food aid.

The coalition is calling for the legislative body to pass A3578 which would establish a SNAP and cash assistance fraud victims compensation fund, a $50 million budget request; and A0699, which would transition New York State to the use of chip cards, protecting New Yorkers and saving the State millions, a $40 million budget request.

Advocates and legislators noted that while victims of SNAP skimming are no longer being reimbursed past 2025 New Yorkers are still seeing SNAP benefits stolen. The compensation fund would address the immediate need to replace stolen SNAP funds with state funding and the chip card transition is a long-term and more permanent solution with reducing SNAP theft.

During the New York State Legislature’s Budget Hearing on Human Services, Assembly Member Mitaynes questioned OTDA Commissioner Guinn about the delay in implementing more long term solutions and Governor Hochul’s willingness to transition to EMV cards and establish a victims compensation fund.

Across New York City, a total of 137,315 claims for stolen SNAP benefits have been filed. Of those claims 95,451 have been paid out, totaling $43,404,064, according to the New York City Department of Social Services. In Queens, 26,874 claims have been filed for stolen SNAP benefits. Of the claims, 19,431 have been paid out, totaling $9,211,323.

Across the State in 2024, New Yorkers filed 101,898 claims for stolen SNAP benefits; 72,112 claims that were approved, totaling $33,834,029 in value of replaced benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture SNAP Replacement of Benefits Dashboard.

“Today is an important step toward ending hunger and mitigating food related illnesses in our state. New York is dealing with a hunger epidemic, with thousands of New Yorkers going without meals every day. We have to fight this crisis head on and stop hunger where we can. Passing my bills A3578 and A0699 means we help thousands of our neighbors feed their families, leading to better health outcomes across the state. With the rising cost of food and rent, we must do our job and deliver relief,” said Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas.

“When the federal SNAP reimbursement fund expired in December, thousands of working-class New Yorkers were left with no recourse when their benefits were skimmed. My bill, the SNAP and Cash Assistance Fraud Victims Compensation Fund (A3578), combined with Assembly Member Gonzalez-Rojas bill that would require the state to switch to chip enabled cards, would protect and provide for New York’s SNAP beneficiaries. We have the opportunity to reduce the likelihood of people becoming victims to SNAP fraud while also providing an avenue for reimbursement. This is how we step up and support our working class,” said Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes.

“As the Chair of the NYS Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm, and Nutrition, and former SNAP recipient, I am urging my colleagues to assist our most vulnerable families who rely on SNAP,” said Assembly Member Khaleel M. Anderson, Chair of the Task Force on Food, Farm, and Nutrition Policy. “Thousands of families across New York State have suffered at the hands of ‘skimming’ to no fault of their own, and we must support them. We must expand the SNAP minimum to $100 and provide a compensation fund! We must also fully modernize the EBT card with security chips and other proactive steps.”

“For years, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have lost their benefits due to fraud and theft. Now, with the federal government refusing to reimburse victims of stolen SNAP benefits, families, seniors, and low-income New Yorkers are left with nowhere to turn. We cannot allow bureaucracy to stand in the way of people being able to put food on the table. New York must step up and fill the gap by passing legislation to compensate fraud victims and upgrade our EBT system to stop this theft from happening in the first place,” said Assembly Member Yudelka Tapia.

“In a time of increasing food insecurity, we need to ensure that low-income individuals and families don’t go hungry and their benefits are protected,” said Assembly Member Grace Lee. “SNAP skimming and other theft affects over 100,000 New Yorkers per year. I am committed to advocating for $4 million in the state budget to protect public assistance funds from being stolen, and $50 million to create a compensation fund for victims to make sure they can still put food on their family's tables. I thank Assembly Members Jessica González-Rojas, Khaleel Anderson, and Marcela Mitaynes for their leadership on this issue.”

"As New Yorkers struggle with the rising costs of living in our state, and technology allows for more creative methods to fraud and theft, we are responsible for putting safeguards in place to protect the government assistance programs in place to help those in need and ensure that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers get the public benefits they are entitled to,” said State Senator Kristen Gonzalez.

"Millions of working New Yorkers rely on SNAP to feed themselves and their families, and these scammers are literally ripping food out of children's mouths,” said State Senator Andrew Gounardes. “We already have the tools to stop this theft and do right by New Yorkers. We need to pass these bills to update benefit cards with modern technology and provide funds to make impacted families whole. Hungry New Yorkers can't afford to wait.”

“SNAP and other public benefits are a lifeline for many families across New York, especially for the immigrant and low-income New Yorkers that we serve at the Chinese-American Planning Council. According to the Mayor's Center for Economic Opportunity, Asian American Pacific Islander New Yorkers have the highest rate of poverty in New York City and benefits skimming cruelly targets these already vulnerable populations and undermines their ability to put food on the table. We are calling for the swift passage of this legislation to ensure that our communities are protected and have access to their essential food assistance,” said Wayne Ho, President & CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC).

“Scammers don’t care who their victims are, which is why it is critical to protect SNAP benefits from being stolen by thieves using increasingly sophisticated technology. That’s why we’re supporting bill A0699 sponsored by Assembly Member González-Rojas. Her measure would add another layer of protection to the electronic benefit transfer system that so many New Yorkers rely upon for their grocery shopping,” said Joe Stelling, Associate State Director, AARP New York. “We’re also supporting bill A3578 sponsored by Assembly Member Mitaynes, because when SNAP skimming does occur, the victims face immediate hardship, struggling to provide food for themselves and their families. Creating a dedicated fund to assist these vulnerable New Yorkers is the right thing to do.”

“SNAP benefits skimming across New York State robs our most vulnerable residents of the money they depend on to feed their family,” said Laboni Rahman, staff attorney with the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “New York lawmakers must step in where the federal government has lapsed: replace stolen SNAP benefits and implement common sense improvements to the technology of benefits cards to protect against theft. We must ensure that digital thieves can no longer cause any New Yorker to go hungry. The Legal Aid Society looks forward to working with legislators this session to address this pressing issue.”

“Skimming is an issue that continues to plague SNAP and cash assistance recipients across New York State. To make matters worse, SNAP recipients no longer have access to federal replacement benefits. A solution to this issue requires both updating EBT cards to chip cards so that thieves can no longer steal benefits AND expanding state funded replacement program to include skimmed SNAP benefits so that New Yorkers don’t go hungry simply because they are a victim of a crime. We are grateful to the legislative leaders working to address both of these issues,” said Haley Kulakowski, Empire Justice Center Public Benefits Attorney.

“EBT skimming is an appalling form of theft,” said Andrés Vives, Chief Executive Officer of Hunger Solutions New York. “More than 2.9 million New Yorkers rely on SNAP to put food on the table. When thieves steal those vital food benefits, families need and deserve recourse. Hunger Solutions New York will continue to advocate for a permanent nationwide skimming replacement policy, but New Yorkers can’t wait for Congress to act. We call on our state lawmakers to step in and ensure New York families whose food benefits are stolen—through no fault of their own—are made whole.”

“New York is, by far, the most impacted state in the nation on the issue of SNAP skimming. Nearly 120,000 households have had vital food assistance benefits stolen from their EBT cards, making it even harder for them to afford food and groceries. Our state has a moral imperative to do everything in its power to protect the public benefits that New York families are entitled to. That is why, in the absence of federal leadership, we urge New York State to replace stolen benefits and enhance EBT card security immediately,” Ryan Healy, Advocacy Manager at Feeding New York State.

“SNAP/EBT Skimming has a devastating impact on families, including many in our settlement house network,” said Tara Klein, Deputy Director of Policy & Advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses. “Victims of skimming are left without money to buy groceries and other necessities, forcing them to skip meals until their next benefit payment comes. Skimming exacerbates food insecurity and financial stress for people who are already struggling, making it harder for them to meet their basic needs and maintain stability. Thank you to the Legislature for fighting to address this urgent issue.”