Farm to Food Bank Enhancement Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6757 To provide additional agricultural products for distribution by emergency feeding organizations during the COVID-19 public health emergency. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2020 Ms. FUDGE (for herself, Mr. COSTA, Ms. PLASKETT, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. BASS, Mr. BERA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. CASE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CORREA, Mr. COX of California, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. SEAN PAT- RICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. ROYBAL- ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. SOTO, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. WIL- SON of Florida, Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, and Mr. CA´RDENAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To provide additional agricultural products for distribution by emergency feeding organizations during the COVID- 19 public health emergency. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6757 IH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm to Food Bank 4 Enhancement Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ENHANCED PROJECTS TO HARVEST, PROCESS, 6 PACKAGE, OR TRANSPORT DONATED COM- 7 MODITIES. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 (1) COVID–19.—The term ‘‘COVID-19’’ 10 means the 2019 Novel Coronavirus or 2019–nCoV. 11 (2) EMERGENCY FEEDING ORGANIZATION.— 12 The term ‘‘emergency feeding organization’’ has the 13 meaning given the term in section 201A of the 14 Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 15 7501). 16 (3) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ has the 17 meaning given the term in section 203D(d)(1) of the 18 Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 19 7507(d)(1)). 20 (4) PRIORITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT.—The 21 term ‘‘priority agricultural product’’ means a dairy, 22 meat, or poultry product, or a specialty crop— 23 (A) packaged or marketed for sale to com- 24 mercial or food service industries; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6757 IH (B) for which decreased demand exists for 1 such a product due to the COVID–19 outbreak; 2 and 3 (C) the repurposing of which would be im- 4 practical for grocery or retail sale. 5 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6 the Secretary of Agriculture. 7 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 8 ing given the term in section 203D of the Emer- 9 gency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7507). 10 (7) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘State agency’’ 11 has the meaning given the term in section 203D of 12 the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 13 U.S.C. 7507). 14 (b) ENHANCED PROJECTS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (3) 16 and (4), using funds made available under sub- 17 section (d), the Secretary may provide funds to 18 States to pay for harvesting, processing, packaging, 19 or transportation costs of carrying out a project. 20 (2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 30 days after 21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 22 shall issue guidance to States— 23 (A) to carry out this section; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6757 IH (B) to inform States of their allocations 1 under paragraph (3); and 2 (C) to encourage States to carry out 3 projects that work with agricultural producers, 4 processors, and distributors with priority agri- 5 cultural products. 6 (3) ALLOCATION.— 7 (A) ELIGIBILITY FOR ALLOCATION.—The 8 Secretary shall allocate funds made available 9 under subsection (d) based on the formula in 10 effect under section 214(a) of the Emergency 11 Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 12 7515(a)), among States that timely submit a 13 State plan of operation for a project that in- 14 cludes— 15 (i) a list of emergency feeding organi- 16 zations in the State that will operate the 17 project in partnership with the State agen- 18 cy; 19 (ii) at the option of the State, a list 20 of priority agricultural products located in 21 the State that are for donation to emer- 22 gency feeding organizations and ready for 23 transport; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6757 IH (iii) a description of how the project 1 will meet the purposes described in section 2 203D(d)(3) of the Emergency Food Assist- 3 ance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7507(d)(3)); 4 and 5 (iv) a timeline of when the project will 6 begin operating. 7 (B) REALLOCATION.—If the Secretary de- 8 termines that a State will not expend all the 9 funds allocated to the State under subpara- 10 graph (A), the Secretary shall reallocate the un- 11 expended funds to other eligible States. 12 (C) REPORT.—Each State that receives 13 funds allocated under this paragraph shall sub- 14 mit to the Secretary financial reports on a reg- 15 ular basis describing the use of the funds. 16 (4) USE OF FUNDS.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives 18 funds under section 203D(d)(5) of the Emer- 19 gency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 20 7507(d)(5)) may— 21 (i) receive funds under this section; 22 and 23 (ii) use funds received under this sec- 24 tion— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6757 IH (I) to expand projects for which 1 funds are received under such section 2 203D(d)(5); and 3 (II) to carry out new projects 4 with agricultural producers, proc- 5 essors, or distributors participating in 6 projects for which funds are received 7 under such section 203D(d)(5). 8 (B) FEDERAL SHARE.—Funds received 9 under this section shall not be subject to the 10 Federal share limitation described in section 11 203D(d)(2)(B) of the Emergency Food Assist- 12 ance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7507(d)(2)(B)). 13 (c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State agency that carries 15 out a project using Federal funds received under 16 this section may enter into cooperative agreements 17 with State agencies of other States under section 18 203B(d) of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 19 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7507(d)) to maximize the use of 20 commodities donated under the project. 21 (2) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 15 days after 22 entering into a cooperative agreement under sub- 23 paragraph (A), a State agency shall submit such 24 agreement to the Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6757 IH (d) APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS.—Out of funds in the 1 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there is appro- 2 priated to carry out this section $25,000,000 to remain 3 available until September 30, 2021. Such funds are des- 4 ignated by Congress as being for an emergency require- 5 ment pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced 6 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 7 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)(i)). 8 (e) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 10 days 9 after the date of the receipt or issuance of each document 10 listed in paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection, the 11 Secretary shall make publicly available on the website of 12 the Department of Agriculture the following documents: 13 (1) Any guidance issued under subsection 14 (b)(2). 15 (2) A State plan or operation or report sub- 16 mitted in accordance with subsection (b)(3). 17 (3) A cooperative agreement submitted in ac- 18 cordance with subsection (c). 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6757.IH H6757 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS