Rep: No control on EBT card spending

The state representative who drafted the legislation that created a commission to look into the use of state Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards says she’s concerned that some of the taxpayer money being given to needy families in the form of direct cash assistance is being misused.Calling it a “huge problem,” state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, pointed out that the direct cash assistance that needy families receive from state and federal taxpayers comes on the same EBT card that gives families federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamp benefits but, unlike that program, there are no controls on the money used.”The people who receive these benefits can go to an ATM and take the cash out of the ATM and spend it anyway they want,” O’Connell said during a phone interview Friday. “There’s really no oversight as to where people spend it and how they spend it.”The issue of the use of EBT cards came up about two weeks ago when state and local police raided three downtown stores in Lynn and another on Chatham Street and arrested eight owners and clerks and charged them with “access device fraud” and drug offenses.First Assistant District Attorney John Dawley told the District Court judge that an undercover State Trooper began investigating benefits fraud at ACE Wholesale and Retail Inc. on Central Avenue over the last year and discovered he could convert benefits on the EBT meant to pay for food under the federal program into cash with a simple transaction.”The operative would buy a bag of chips and a soda and merely ask, ‘Is it cool?’ The clerk would ask, ‘How much?’ The clerk would ring in a $100 purchase, giving the person $50, keeping $50 for the house without a single item of food being bought,” Dawley said.But most people who receive the federal food stamp benefits also receive cash assistance through the Transitional Aid To Families with Dependent Children program, according to Paulette Song, the Deputy Communications Director for the state Executive office of Health and Human Services.The cash assistance benefit is paid for by both state and federal taxpayers, Song said.Unlike the federal food benefits on the EBT card, anyone who receives the cash assistance can use the EBT card like a debit card, and either pay for purchases intended to help them make ends meet at a cash register, or “use the card to take out cash,” from an ATM, Song acknowledged Friday.People who get the cash assistance are not required to provide any receipts to show how they spent the taxpayer money, Song said.And that concerns O’Connell, who said the state will spend $329 million for cash aid to families with dependent children in Fiscal Year 2012.”Unfortunately I think it’s a bigger problem that we’re aware of,” O’Connell, who hopes to serve on the special commission to look into the use of EBT cards, said. “I think we’re going to be pretty shocked when we look into it.”The average cash assistance benefit paid out to a household each month is $475, according to the state Department of Transitional Assistance, which is part of Health and Human Services.People who are eligible to receive the cash if they fall below a certain income level are “individuals with dependent children under 18 (or 19, if they are still in high school) and pregnant women within 120 days of the end of the pregnancy? as are certain legal immigrants,” according to the DTA website.O’Connell said she is bothered by what she called the “somewhat vague” guidelines as to who can receive the cash from the state.”I think part of the commission’s duties will be to set out what these guidelines are,” O’Connell said. “Certainly the criteria should be that you must be a United States citizen.”There are Transitional Assistance Offices throughout the state, including a North Shore and Revere office, which are two of the busiest in the state, according to state records.In September, there were 29,148 families receiving cash benefits and federal food stamp benef