Letter seeking remedial action for state's failures with respect to timely photo EBT cards

December 19, 2013

Secretary John Polanowicz
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
One Ashburton Place
11th Floor
Boston, MA 02108

Dear Secretary Polanowicz,

In addition to victimizing thousands of poor and working people throughout Massachusetts, DTA’s ongoing problem with administering the new photo EBT card requirement is fueling the quite harmful impression that the Commonwealth cannot manage IT projects and vendors.  Both the victimization and the mismanagement need to end as soon as possible.

Your office’s apparent failure to supply timely information to the US Department of Agriculture is not helping matters.  Please supply USDA with the specific information it requested in its letter to you of December 19th, 2013.  In addition, please remedy your office’s failure to provide crucial operational information to retailers in the Commonwealth.

Finally, please temporarily halt further implementation of the photo EBT requirement in order to enable DTA to work with the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service to develop a plan that will safeguard the legitimate needs of the working poor.  Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2013, An Act to Study the Prevention of Fraud in the EBT Program, gave EOHHS 12 months to replace all EBT cards that require a photo ID.  For the subset of instances consisting of new or reissued cards, the act gave EOHHS six months from the statute’s effective date.  Unfortunately for the state’s working poor and for the state’s taxpayers both, your office chose to implement these changes earlier than necessary, apparently with resulting mishaps and mistakes.

While DTA must accept responsibility for several key aspects of the problem, the failure to increase hours of operation and staffing levels and to resolve client issues related to the new photo EBT cards is further indication that EOHHS is chronically understaffing key front line functions that directly touch people’s lives.  Responsibility for such understaffing must be assigned above the level of DTA.  The remedy for such understaffing needs to come from your office and from the Governor’s.

I’m very worried about people not being able to feed their families and manage their finances during the cold holiday days to come.  Please take all necessary steps before Christmas to address the issues identified in USDA’s December 19th communication.

Respectfully,