NY State Senate Bill 2019-S7847

Senate Bill S7847

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to eligible purchases by school lunch service programs receiving additional state subsidies

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 26, 2020	referred to education

2019-S7847 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10320
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education
Laws Affected:: Amd §5, Chap 537 of 1976
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S4315, A4820
2023-2024: S423, A870

2019-S7847 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Permits a school food authority to attribute moneys spent on purchases of food products from New York state farmers, growers, producers or processors made for its school breakfast program to the thirty percent of costs for school lunch service programs.

2019-S7847 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7847

SPONSOR: METZGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend chapter 537 of the laws of 1976, relating to paid, free
and reduced price breakfast for eligible pupils in certain school
districts, in relation to purchases of food products from New York state
farmers, growers, producers or processors

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this legislation is to increase school district partic-
ipation in, and eligibility for, the school lunch reimbursement for
purchase of New York farm-fresh foods.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends unconsolidated law to authorize schools, commencing
July 1, 2020 and every year thereafter, to attribute moneys spent on
purchases of food products from New York state farmers, growers, produc-

ers or processors made for its school breakfast program to the thirty
percent of costs required to receive reimbursement for school lunch
service programs.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Currently, schools are eligible to receive an additional $.25 reimburse-
ment for school lunches that include at least thirty percent food
products from New York state farmers, growers, producers or processors.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The reimbursement for school lunches was added in 2018 to encourage the
purchase of fresh, healthy, and whole or minimally-processed foods to
support the health and nutritional well-being of school children while
also supporting New York farms. In addition, at a time when dairy farm-
ers in New York are struggling, adding this incentive would provide them
with much-needed support and give our children access to higher quality
products.

This program includes a $10 million appropriation through the State
Education Budget. Up to this point, only 49 school districts across the
state qualified for the incentive, and upon audit, only 7 school
districts were actually approved. This language change will give schools
access to this already allocated funding, which has not yet been fully
utilized, and significantly expand the benefits of this valuable program
to more schools.

One of the biggest impediments to qualifying for the incentive is that
lunch is the only meal that can be counted toward the 30 percent thresh-
old. This means that milk, yogurt, cheese, and fresh fruit served at
school breakfast do not count, even though we know that this is one of
the most important meals of the day for children. Not only will this
change expand access to healthy, nutritious foods for our school chil-
dren but would also discourage the perverse incentive schools currently

have to procure unnecessarily more expensive foods in order to meet the
required 30 percent threshold.

According to Hunger Solutions New York, 4,912 schools across the state
offer lunch programs serving over one million students, with 1,562
schools also offering free breakfast to over 500,000 children. We are
falling very short of serving these children with healthy, locally
grown, and sourced foods. We can make this incentive a win-win for our
school children and New York farmers and food producers with the addi-
tion of breakfast to this incentive.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is new legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.

2019-S7847 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7847
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 26, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. METZGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
 
 AN ACT to amend chapter 537 of the laws of 1976, relating to paid,  free
   and  reduced  price  breakfast  for  eligible pupils in certain school
   districts, in relation to purchases of food  products  from  New  York
   state farmers, growers, producers or processors

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 5 of chapter 537 of the laws of 1976,  relating  to
 paid,  free  and  reduced price breakfast for eligible pupils in certain
 school districts, as added by section 2 of part B of chapter 56  of  the
 laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   §  5.  a.  Notwithstanding  any  monetary  limitations with respect to
 school lunch programs contained in any law  or  regulation,  for  school
 lunch  meals  served in the school year commencing July 1, 2019 and each
 July 1 thereafter, a school food authority shall be eligible for a lunch
 meal State subsidy of twenty-five cents, which shall include any  annual
 State  subsidy  received  by  such school food authority under any other
 provision of State law, for any school lunch meal served by such  school
 food authority; provided that the school food authority certifies to the
 State Education Department through the application submitted pursuant to
 subdivision  b of this section that such food authority has purchased at
 least thirty percent of its total cost of food products for  its  school
 lunch service program from New York state farmers, growers, producers or
 processors  in  the  preceding school year. COMMENCING JULY 1, 2020, AND
 EACH JULY 1 THEREAFTER, A SCHOOL FOOD  AUTHORITY  SHALL  BE  ALLOWED  TO
 ATTRIBUTE MONEYS SPENT ON PURCHASES OF FOOD PRODUCTS FROM NEW YORK STATE
 FARMERS,  GROWERS, PRODUCERS OR PROCESSORS MADE FOR ITS SCHOOL BREAKFAST
 PROGRAM TO  THE  THIRTY  PERCENT  OF  COSTS  FOR  SCHOOL  LUNCH  SERVICE
 PROGRAMS.
   b.  The State Education Department, in cooperation with the Department
 of Agriculture and Markets, shall develop an application for school food
 authorities to seek an additional State subsidy pursuant to this section
 in a timeline and format prescribed by the  commissioner  of  education.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD15561-01-0

 S. 7847                             2
 
 Such  application  shall  include,  but not be limited to, documentation
 demonstrating the school food authority's total food purchases  for  its
 school  lunch service program, and documentation demonstrating its total
 food purchases and percentages for such program, PERMITTED TO BE COUNTED
 UNDER  THIS  SECTION, from New York State farmers, growers, producers or
 processors in the preceding school  year.  The  application  shall  also
 include  an attestation from the school food authority's chief operating
 officer that it purchased at least thirty percent of its total  cost  of
 food  products PERMITTED TO BE COUNTED UNDER THIS SECTION for its school
 lunch service program from New York State farmers, growers, producers or
 processors in the preceding school year in order to  meet  the  require-
 ments  for  this additional State subsidy. School food authorities shall
 be required to annually apply for this subsidy.
   c. The State Education Department shall annually  publish  information
 on  its  website  commencing  on  September 1, 2019 and each September 1
 thereafter, relating to each school food authority that applied for  and
 received  this  additional  State subsidy, including but not limited to:
 the school food authority name, student enrollment, average daily  lunch
 participation,  total  food  costs for its school lunch service program,
 total cost of  food  products  for  its  school  lunch  service  program
 purchased from New York State farmers, growers, producers or processors,
 and  the  percent  of total food costs that were purchased from New York
 State farmers, growers, producers or processors  for  its  school  lunch
 service program.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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