H.R. 9649: Stop Retail Food Store SNAP Trafficking Act of 2026

This bill would change how the government detects and punishes SNAP trafficking, which means illegally buying, selling, or exchanging Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for cash or other goods.

What it would change

• Improves estimates of retail store trafficking: The Department of Agriculture, through the Food and Nutrition Service, would have to review and update the assumptions used to estimate how often retail food stores traffic in SNAP benefits.
• Uses outside data to check those estimates: The agency would need to validate its assumptions with independent data, such as transaction records from known trafficking cases.
• Shows uncertainty in public reports: Any public estimate of trafficking would have to include a range that reflects uncertainty, rather than a single number alone.
• Studies more frequent store reauthorization: The agency would have to look at the pros and cons of reauthorizing some high-risk retail food stores more often than every five years, and make changes if appropriate.
• Requires updated reports: A new national report on retailer trafficking would have to be published within 18 months after the law takes effect, and then every three years after that.

Penalty changes

• Raises some civil money penalty caps: The maximum civil penalties in certain cases would increase from $100,000 to $250,000.
• Supports combining penalties with permanent disqualification: The Agriculture Secretary would be directed to write regulations making clear that a retail food store permanently disqualified for SNAP trafficking can also face civil money penalties.
• Directs stronger deterrence: The bill says penalties should be set up to better discourage trafficking violations, within the Secretary’s existing legal authority.

Reporting to Congress

Within two years of enactment, the Agriculture Secretary would have to send Congress a brief report describing:

• progress in carrying out the bill;
• updated estimates of retail-store SNAP trafficking; and
• the number of investigations, disqualifications, and penalties related to that trafficking.

Relevant Companies

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