Sponsored by:
Senator ANDREW ZWICKER
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Requires Secretary of Agriculture to establish Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program to reimburse school districts for costs expended in sourcing and procuring local foods for students; appropriates $6,500,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the procurement of local food products by school districts, supplementing Title 4 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
Baseline levels or baselines means the baseline levels identified by a school district pursuant to paragraph (5) of subsection c. of section 2 of this act.
Department means the Department of Agriculture.
Eligible costs means the actual, documented costs, which are reimbursable with program grant funds, as provided by subsection f. of section 2 of this act, and which are expended by an eligible school district, by a participating school, or by a district-operated or third party-contracted food service provider or vendor operating in the district, in order to implement or undertake the expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities described in a grant application submitted pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 of this act.
Eligible school district or eligible district means a school district in which all participating schools provide subsidized school meals to students who are eligible therefor.
Expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities means those policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities, described in a grant application submitted pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 of this act, which are being newly implemented or undertaken, in a school district or in participating schools therein, specifically in order to increase, above current levels, the total number or type of local foods being procured for students in the district, the meal periods during which such local foods are served to students in the district, or the total number or type of students in the district who are being provided with access to such local foods, during either the school year or the summer months, or both.
Federal School Breakfast Program means the same as that term is defined in section 1 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2).
Ineligible costs means any costs that do not constitute eligible costs for the purposes of the Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program, including, but not limited to, any costs incurred, by a school or school district, in the sourcing or purchasing of fluid dairy milk, or in association with the districts ordinary, unexpanded sourcing and procurement of local food products at or below the baseline levels identified in the districts grant application, submitted pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 of this act.
Local food or local food product means any raw, whole, or minimally processed fruit, vegetable, herb, meat, seafood, legume, or grain that is 100 percent grown, raised, or caught in the State or in State waters, regardless of the where the distributor of such food is located. Local food or local food product includes New Jersey canned tomatoes, but does not include fluid dairy milk.
Minimally processed means that a local food product is in its raw or whole state, or has been cut, chopped, sliced, butchered, dried, or frozen, but has not been cooked, heated, canned, or been subject to supplementation with any additives or fillers.
National School Lunch Program means the same as that term is defined in section 1 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2).
Participating school means a school that is identified, by a school district, in a grant application submitted pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 of this act, and which has agreed to participate in the expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities being implemented or undertaken in the district with the use of grant funds awarded under the Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program.
Program means the Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program established pursuant to section 2 of this act.
School breakfast program means the same as that term is defined in section 1 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2).
School lunch program means the same as that term is defined in section 1 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2).
Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture.
Small or mid-sized family farm means a farm that is categorized, by the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, as a small family farm, which has an annual gross cash farm income of less than $350,000, or as a mid-sized family farm, which has an annual gross cash farm income of not less than $350,000 and not more than $999,999.
Socially disadvantaged farmer means a person who is trained to engage in agricultural or horticultural activities and is a member of a socially disadvantaged group.
Socially disadvantaged group means a population group whose members have been subjected to prejudice or discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, or participation in any public assistance program, because of their membership in the group or the shared characteristics of the group, and without regard to their individual qualities.
Subsidized school meals or subsidized meals means school lunch or breakfast, or both, the cost of which is partially or fully subsidized by the State or federal government pursuant to the National School Lunch Program, the federal School Breakfast Program, and the associated provisions of P.L.1974, c.53 (C.18A:33-4), P.L.2003, c.4 (C.18A:33-9 et seq.); P.L.2019, c.445 (C.18A:33-21.1), and P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2 et al.).
Subsidized student means the same as that term is defined in section 1 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-3.2).
Summer Food Service Program means the federal reimbursement program, established under 42 U.S.C. s.1761 and 7 C.F.R. Part 225, pursuant to which the United States Department of Agriculture is authorized to provide grants-in-aid and other assistance to the states, as may be necessary to help schools, local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, and summer camps finance the administrative and operational costs of providing meals to children, in low-income areas, during the summer months and other planned periods of school closure.
2. a. The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish and operate a Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program. The purpose of the grant program shall be to provide sufficient reimbursement financing to eligible school districts in the State, as necessary to allow such districts to implement or undertake expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities at their own pace, and to whatever extent that such policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities are capable of being so expanded or modified, as may be necessary to increase the total number or type of local foods being procured for students, the meal periods during which such local foods are served to students, or the total number or type of students being offered such local foods, for the