Senate Bill 817 aims to enhance the accessibility of healthy food options by providing funding for a healthy food incentive program and establishing a payment processing program for farmers markets and farmers selling directly to consumers. The bill allocates $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27 to support the healthy food incentive program. Additionally, it mandates the Department of Health Services (DHS) to supply electronic benefit transfer (EBT) and credit and debit card processing equipment and services to farmers markets and farmers. The EBT processing must include support for the FoodShare program, and vendors processing these transactions are also required to handle local purchasing incentives.

To facilitate the implementation of this program, the bill creates new statutory provisions under sections 20.435 (4) (bu) and 49.79 (7s), which outline the responsibilities of the DHS in administering the payment processing program. Furthermore, the bill increases the authorized full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for the DHS by 0.625 to coordinate the payment processing program. The fiscal changes also reflect an increase in appropriations for the healthy food incentive program, ensuring that the necessary funding is available to support these initiatives.