General Information 430-05-05

 

History of SNAP 430-05-05-05

(Revised 01/01/04 ML2893)

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In 1935, Congress authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to use custom receipts to buy food for welfare institutions. These funds were known as Section 32 funds.

 

In 1946, Congress established the Commodity Distribution Program. Surplus foods from the price support program or Section 32 were made available for institutions and welfare programs.

 

Under the Kennedy administration, the Food Stamp Program began as a pilot program in 1961. The program became law in 1964 and was designed to increase the food buying power of low-income families. While the federal government established the program, the states and local governing bodies administered it. In North Dakota, the counties administered the program through their welfare boards and employees. Maximum incomes were set by a plan prepared by the Public Welfare Board of North Dakota with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a part of the plan, a series of charts were developed to show how many bonus stamps could be issued for various levels of net income for various sized families. Thus, with a monthly net income of $0 to $19.99, a family of four in 1969 could spend $2.00 for stamps and receive $58.00 in bonus stamps for a total of $60.00. The purchase price was not eliminated from the program until December of 1979.

 

During 1970, North Dakota had 41 counties participating in the Food Stamp Program, five counties with no program and seven counties who issued surplus commodities. It was not until July 1, 1974, that all counties in North Dakota were mandated to participate in the Food Stamp Program.

 

The program was totally automated in October of 1984 and today serves approximately 17,500 households statewide with a total dollar issuance of approximately 3.1 million dollars per month as compared to January of 1979 when $504,520.00 dollars were issued to 6,021 households.

 

In February 1996, the State of North Dakota and South Dakota joined together to form the Dakota Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Program which is the first joint State EBT Program in the nation. A unique aspect of the Dakota EBT Program is that the Dakota EBT cards can be used in both North Dakota and South Dakota.

 

Electronic Benefits Transfer is an on-line computer-based system in which the benefit authorization is received from a central computer through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Eligible households utilize magnetic stripe plastic cards and have accounts maintained at the central computer instead of using food stamp coupons to purchase food items at authorized food retailers. Once certified, the household’s benefits are electronically loaded into a central computer account for each month during the review period.

 

Checkout lanes at authorized food retailers are equipped with POS terminals. When the transaction occurs, the POS terminals connect on-line to the central computer database; verify the validity of the personal identification number (PIN), card number, and the amount of available benefits in an EBT account; obtain authorization for each purchase; and initiate the debiting of the household’s account and the crediting of the retailer’s account.