Congress locks in fee-free SNAP transactions for retailers nationwide
H.R. 4158 — Ensuring Fee-Free Benefit Transactions Act of 2025 · Filed by Shontel Brown (D-OH) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill makes permanent a ban on fees that states and their contractors can charge retailers for processing SNAP (food stamp) benefit transactions. Currently, a temporary moratorium expires; this bill extends it indefinitely, with a narrow exception for equipment rental costs. The result: retailers face no state-imposed fees for accepting SNAP benefits, keeping transaction costs lower for the food retail ecosystem.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to permanently prohibit state-imposed transaction fees on SNAP retailers. It is a straightforward regulatory protection for the food retail sector, framed as a consumer-access measure.
What the text implies
- States lose a potential revenue source for SNAP administration costs, which may shift funding pressure to federal appropriations or reduce state-level SNAP program enhancements.
- Payment processors and EBT network operators benefit from sustained high retailer participation, as lower fees reduce retailer exit from the SNAP ecosystem.
- The exception for equipment rental costs creates a narrow carve-out that states may attempt to reclassify other costs into, generating future litigation or regulatory disputes.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens benefit because lower transaction costs for retailers reduce friction in the SNAP system and may translate to lower food prices or wider retailer participation. The bill removes a cost burden on the food retail supply chain that could otherwise be passed to consumers or reduce retailer willingness to accept SNAP benefits.
Who stands to gain
- grocery retailers and convenience stores
- EBT payment processors and network operators
- food retail supply chain participants
Named in the bill
Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer), states and state contractors, Consolidation Appropriations Act, 2023, retailers
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jun 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,464,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 53 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Shontel Brown, the sponsor, reported $771,344 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Food Marketplace Inc — $1,384,000 on 2 filings
- Fidelity National Information Systems Inc and Subsidiaries — $80,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,084 characters) on Aug 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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