HARRISBURG, PA — Governor Josh Shapiro joined members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and local business owners to announce a new state investment aimed at replacing traditional magnetic-stripe Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards with microchip-enabled security technology.
The initiative, backed by a $7 million investment in the 2026–2027 state budget, is designed to overhaul Pennsylvania’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) infrastructure and protect lower-income families who rely on food assistance.
The security upgrade comes in response to rising nationwide reports of public benefit theft caused by illegal point-of-sale skimming devices. In July 2025, the governor issued a statewide alert warning residents that skimmers had been detected attached to payment terminals in multiple Pennsylvania counties.
According to data compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, seven states that have already transitioned to chip-enabled EBT cards reported significant reductions in fraudulent skimming and benefit theft. Moving to chip technology ensures SNAP recipients have the same baseline card security features offered by standard commercial credit and debit cards.
