Michigan lawmakers eye separating legal SNAP spending from fraud

Michigan lawmakers are trying to decipher whether people who spend benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program out of state for months at a time are criminals or law-abiding citizens.

The Michigan House of Representatives passed House Bill 6013 in June, a bill that would direct the state health department to monitor instances of out-of-state Bridge Card use. The bill aims to combat SNAP fraud by examining cards used out of state for more than 90 consecutive days. It would suspend such cards until the recipient verifies continued state residency or benefit eligibility.

SNAP helps feed about 1.3 million Michiganders (as well as several thousand non-residents) each month. House Bill 6013 aims to protect Michiganders who rightfully use their EBT cards at out-of-state retailers while exposing criminals who steal from Michigan’s poorest.

In a July 7 news conference, House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said the new budget will force the state to check applicants’ eligibility before giving them welfare.

“We’re going to be looking at people that are getting food stamps and they’re only spending exclusively out of state,” Hall said. “And we’re going to start finally looking at that and saying, ‘Why are they not using food stamps in Michigan? Are they potentially not living in Michigan? Are they potentially double dipping in multiple states?’

“We want these programs to exist for decades for people they were intended for, for people that are in need; not for scammers and people who are committing fraud.”

Federal law allows Michiganders to spend SNAP benefits out of state, but criminals use card skimmers placed on checkout machines and clone cards. They then steal benefits across the country.

More than 100 people in Oakland County reported stolen SNAP benefits in 2023 and 2024. On Feb. 22, 2024, a Michigan woman reported that nearly $200 of her SNAP benefits were spent at Hot Spot Convenience 2, a shop in Brooklyn, New York. In June 2026, the state of Ohio and the federal government teamed up to arrest shop owner Raed Subhi Abu Mohammad, alleging that the shop was responsible for more than $640,000 in stolen SNAP benefits.

During 2023 and 2024, most of those benefits were spent in six states: Arkansas, California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

In 2023, there were 1,769,004 EBT transactions at out-of-state retailers, not including online retailers. That accounts for 2.091% of all EBT transactions for 2023, according to a records request from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Of all out-of-state EBT transactions, 701,503 transactions, or roughly 40%, occurred in the neighboring states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Roughly 60% of the transactions, or 1,067,501, occurred elsewhere.

The state health department says 0.829% of the transactions in 2023 were at retailers in neighboring states, and 1.26% of the transactions were in other states. Michigan retailers captured most of the transactions — 97.90%.

The Office of Inspector General within the department monitors EBT data to identify individuals who spend exclusively outside of Michigan for at least three months where the amount spent is greater than $250 per month, the health department told CapCon via a records request.

The inspector general sends those cases to the state health department to determine eligibility but exempts border county residents who might shop out of state.

In 2024, there were 1,487,730 EBT transactions at out-of-state retailers, not including online retailers, coming to 1.898% of all transactions. About 41% of those transactions, or 617,249, took place in neighboring states.

The majority, or 98% of all EBT transactions for 2024, took place within Michigan.