[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3903 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3903

      To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to enhance the 
        administrative and judiciary process for SNAP retailers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 2023

Mr. Espaillat introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to enhance the 
        administrative and judiciary process for SNAP retailers.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping SNAP in our Communities Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    Section 14(a) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2025(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2) by striking ``by any'' and inserting 
        ``to each of the firm's owners, officers, and managers by email 
        and via any other'',
            (2) in paragraph (3) by striking ``ten'' and inserting 
        ``30'',
            (3) by amending subparagraph (4) to read as follows:
    ``(4) If such a request is not made by the store, concern, or State 
Agency or if such store, concern, or State agency otherwise fails to 
submit information in support of its position after filing a request, 
the administrative determination shall be a final determination, 
subject to the provisions of judicial review.'', and
            (4) by amending paragraph (5) to read as follows:
    ``(5) If such request is made by such store, concern, or State 
agency, such information as may be submitted by the store, concern, or 
State agency, as well as such other information as may be available, 
shall be reviewed by the person or persons designated by the Secretary, 
who shall, subject to the right of judicial review hereinafter 
provided, make a determination within 60 days after submission of the 
store's response. The agency's determination shall be final and shall 
take effect 30 days after the date of the delivery or service of such 
final notice of determination. In all administrative proceedings 
involving the denial, withdrawal, or disqualification of a retail food 
store from the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the agency 
shall bear the burden of proof of establishing that the denial, 
withdrawal, or disqualification is based on a preponderance of the 
evidence. The agency shall produce, within 10 days of any request by 
the store or its counsel, all records reviewed or relied upon by the 
agency in issuing the charge letter or other notice. Notwithstanding 
any provision in this Act or other statutory provision, the agency 
shall produce information and records otherwise prohibited from 
disclosure to counsel for the store subject to a nondisclosure 
agreement.''.

SEC. 3. REPORTING.

    Not later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a study that contains the 
following:
            (1) How often first-time trafficking offenders are given a 
        penalty of permanent disqualification in lieu of civil penalty, 
        disaggregated by--
                    (A) the number of employees and revenue, and
                    (B) the race and ethnicity of owners.
            (2) An analysis of the Anti-Fraud Locator Using Electronic 
        Benefits Transfer System (ALERT) including--
                    (A) what are the metrics of detecting fraudulent 
                activity,
                    (B) how the metrics of detecting fraudulent 
                activity were determined,
                    (C) how often these metrics are updated to ensure 
                they continue to be reliable, and
                    (D) what metrics are reviewed in addition to ALERT 
                findings to determine fraudulent activity.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Effective Day of Section 3.--Section 3 shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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