LA County Board

19. Expanding Metro LIFE Program through Cross-Agency Collaboration\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Mitchell and Solis: Instruct the\nDirector of Public Social Services to collaborate with the Los Angeles County\nMetropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), and relevant State and Federal\npartners, in coordination with the Chief Executive Officer, through the\nLegislative Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations Branch, to evaluate a range\nof options and associated costs and make the necessary technical and system\nupgrades to the EuroPay, Mastercard, and Visa systems to accept Electronic\nBenefit Transfer (EBT) cards in order to enroll residents into the Low Income\nFare Is Easy (LIFE) Program upon qualification without undergoing an\nadditional LIFE application, and enable upgraded, chip/tap EBT card holders\nenrolled in the LIFE Program to use their cards in lieu of Metro fare media to\naccess LIFE’s free and discounted rides; and report back to the Board in\nwriting within 120 days with a progress update on the above that includes, but is\nnot limited to, social benefit programs identified for automatic LIFE enrollment,\nincluding availability of an EBT card for Program participants, technical and\nsystem upgrade requirements, and a plan to implement automatic LIFE\nenrollment and utilization of the EBT card as fare media. (24-3166)