Maryland Human Services Secretary Rafael J. Lopez holds an EBT, or electronic benefit transfer, card at a July 2024 meeting. More than a year later, his agency recommended award of a contract for a vendor to provide more-secure, chip-enabled cards to benefit recipients. (File photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Maryland will become one of the first states in the nation to distribute “tap and go” EBT, or electronic benefit transfer, cards to state residents, giving almost 1 million Marylanders secure access to their cash and food benefits.
It could be months before the cards are fully available, under a multiyear contract for Fidelity Information Systems approved Wednesday by the Board of Public Works. But Department of Human Services officials were already welcoming the new contract, which they hope will reverse a rising number of benefit thefts from recipients…