Trending
State Rep. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport, recently brought a development to the public's attention: The passage of legislation to use chips to encrypt the debit-style cards used by Pennsylvania's public assistance programs.
Flick notes the upgrade will make theft and fraud committed to steal from recipients' benefits more difficult and also noted that in the past there have been thousands of instances of the use of the "card skimming" tactic to steal from these accounts.
We appreciate Flick's attention to this issue and we appreciate the efforts of the state Legislature to reduce fraud and theft -- particularly theft from families facing difficulties and financial insecurity and theft of public assistance funding for which our tax dollars pay.
Our state owes better stewardship of tax dollars to every tax-paying Pennsylvanian and it owes vigorous and attentive accountability to those least fortunate, that the assistance our state provides isn't pilfered by con artists and scamsters.
The legislation applying technological improvements to these debit-style cards will help ensure that stewardship and accountability, and we hope our lawmakers are able to determine what other steps can be taken to demonstrate a commitment to that sense of stewardship and accountability.