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California rolls out chip‑tap EBT cards; state updates automation and CalSAWS budget questions surface
Summary
CDSS reported completion of a statewide replacement of magnetic‑stripe EBT cards with chip‑tap cards, describing early activation/retailer adoption metrics and expected theft reductions; the committee also heard CalSAWS budget and contract transition updates and questions about ongoing maintenance costs.
California officials reported that as of April 30 all EBT clients had been issued new chip‑tap enabled cards designed to reduce electronic skimming and theft, and that California is the first state to deploy chip‑tap EBT cards statewide.
"I'm pleased to report that California is now the first and only state in the nation to deliver EBT benefits through chip tap enabled cards," Ryan Gillette, Chief Data Officer at CDSS, told the Subcommittee. He said mass deployment began in late February and about 4 million magnetic‑stripe cards were replaced; new cards are also printable over the counter in county welfare offices.
Officials gave early operational metrics: about 50% of mailed cards have been activated; about 15.8% of EBT transactions are processing via ChipTap lanes, while roughly 73.3% currently fall back to mag‑stripe; total success for ChipTap transactions was reported at 99.9% when processed through a ChipTap lane. CDSS said retailers must update point‑of‑sale terminals and that the department and vendor are outreaching to retailers and third‑party processors.
County and vendor transition issues also appeared during the hearing. Julia Erdkamp, executive director of CalSA (CalSAWS), and other presenters described the CalSAWS 2025–26 maintenance and operations budget (CDSS provided a combined figure of approximately $376,000,000 for maintenance, operations and system changes) and said the shift from migration to full maintenance creates different cost drivers, including scaling, cloud services, security upgrades and a vendor transition that carries one‑time knowledge‑transfer costs.
Committee members asked why maintenance costs did not decline after migration completed; witnesses said ongoing scaling, security, vendor transition, and integration work explain the near‑term budget. LAO said it will review IT project budgets across state initiatives to provide context. No formal votes occurred during the hearing.
