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You are here: Home > SNAP > EBT
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)

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As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program. The new name reflects the changes we’ve made to meet the needs of our clients, including a focus on nutrition and an increase in benefit amounts.  SNAP is the federal name for the program. State programs may have different names.

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that allows a recipient to authorize transfer of their government benefits from a Federal account to a retailer account to pay for products received. EBT is used in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. EBT has been implemented in all States since June of 2004.

Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader.

EBT Status Highlights
EBT Status Report
A Report to Congress: SNAP EBT Systems. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 required the Secretary of Agriculture to submit a report on the status of SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems to Congress. 
EBT Alternatives Analysis  (PDF 4MB, 241 pages) - This report analyzes possible changes FNS and States could make to existing EBT implementation and system models to increase competition among EBT vendors, facilitate system implementation nationwide, and lower the cost of EBT in general.  The report is broken out by chapters and appendices which can be downloaded individually.  Appendices A & B are not available in electronic format.  Appendix H is not available because of sensitive data.
EBT Rules & Regulations - Current rules governing EBT system implementation and operation.
EBT Disaster Guidelines - The purpose of this Guide is to assist EBT States in developing their disaster plans.  Responses to recent disasters have demonstrated EBT can effectively deliver SNAP benefits during a disaster situation. Click here to link to FNS Disaster Assistance Website
EBT & Farmers' Markets - This section provides brief descriptions of various State SNAP EBT Farmers' Market demonstrations. 
  -- Evaluation of the Hilo Farmers' Market Demonstration.  The Hilo farmers’ market demonstration tests an alternative to the conventional implementation of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) found in the traditional retailer environment.
  -- Click here for information about the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program and the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.
State EBT Websites - Provides links to various State EBT websites.

 
Last modified: 11/21/2008