Alternative benefit delivery

(A) In general Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall require participating retail food stores (including restaurants participating in a State option restaurant program intended to serve the elderly, disabled, and homeless) to pay 100 percent of the costs of acquiring, and arrange for the implementation of, electronic benefit transfer point-of-sale equipment and supplies, including related services.

(B) Exemptions The Secretary may exempt from subparagraph (A)— (i) farmers’ markets and other direct-to-consumer markets, military commissaries, nonprofit food buying cooperatives, and establishments, organizations, programs, or group living arrangements described in paragraphs (5), (7), and (8) of section 2012(k) of this title ; and (ii) establishments described in paragraphs (3), (4), and (9) of section 2012(k) of this title , other than restaurants participating in a State option restaurant program.

(C) Interchange fees Nothing in this paragraph permits the charging of fees relating to the redemption of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits, in accordance with subsection (h)(13).

(A) Coupon issuance Effective on the date of enactment of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, no State shall issue any coupon, stamp, certificate, or authorization card to a household that receives supplemental nutrition assistance under this chapter.

(B) EBT cards Effective beginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, only an EBT card issued under subsection (i) shall be eligible for exchange at any retail food store.

(C) De-obligation of coupons Coupons not redeemed during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 shall— (i) no longer be an obligation of the Federal Government; and (ii) not be redeemable.

(A) In general Effective beginning on February 7, 2014 , except as provided in subparagraph (B), no State shall issue manual vouchers to a household that receives supplemental nutrition assistance under this chapter or allow retail food stores to accept manual vouchers as payment, unless the Secretary determines that the manual vouchers are necessary, such as in the event of an electronic benefit transfer system failure or a disaster situation.

(B) Exemptions The Secretary may exempt categories of retail food stores or individual retail food stores from subparagraph (A) based on criteria established by the Secretary.

(A) In general To enhance the anti-fraud protections of the program, the Secretary shall require all parties providing electronic benefit transfer services to provide for and maintain unique terminal identification number information through the supplemental nutrition assistance program electronic benefit transfer transaction routing system.

(B) Regulations (i) In general Not earlier than 2 years after February 7, 2014 , the Secretary shall issue proposed regulations to carry out this paragraph. (ii) Commercial practices In issuing regulations to carry out this paragraph, the Secretary shall consider existing commercial practices for other point-of-sale debit transactions.

(C) Operation of individual point of sale device by farmers’ markets and direct marketing farmers A farmers’ market or direct marketing farmer that is exempt under paragraph (2)(B)(i) shall be allowed to operate an individual electronic benefit transfer point of sale device at more than 1 location under the same supplemental nutrition assistance program authorization, if— (i) the farmers’ market or direct marketing farmer provides to the Secretary information on location and hours of operation at each location; and (ii) (I) the point of sale device used by the farmers’ market or direct marketing farmer is capable of providing location information of the device through the electronic benefit transfer system; or (II) if the Secretary determines that the technology is not available for a point of sale device to meet the requirement under subclause (I), the farmers’ market or direct marketing farmer provides to the Secretary any other information, as determined by the Secretary, necessary to ensure the integrity of transactions processed using the point of sale device.