Bill Text: NY S02913 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Provides grants to address food insecurity among students at public institutions for higher education.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S02913 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S02913-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2913

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 25, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  MAY,  MYRIE,  ADDABBO,  BRESLIN,  COMRIE, COONEY,
          GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON,  KENNEDY,  KRUEGER,  LIU,
          RIVERA,  SKOUFIS,  THOMAS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN ACT to amend the education  law,  in  relation  to  establishing  the
          "hunger-free campus act"

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited  as  the  "hunger-
     2  free campus act".
     3    §  2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 319 to read
     4  as follows:
     5    § 319. Hunger-free campus grant program.  1.  The  commissioner  shall
     6  establish  the hunger-free campus grant program pursuant to this section
     7  and regulations of the commissioner adopted for such purpose. Within the
     8  amounts appropriated for this  purpose,  the  commissioner  shall  award
     9  grants  on  a  competitive  basis to public and nonprofit private insti-
    10  tutions for higher education which have one or more  campuses  that  are
    11  designated by the commissioner as hunger-free campuses.
    12    2. The purpose of the grant funding shall be to:
    13    a. address student hunger;
    14    b.  leverage more sustainable solutions to address basic food needs on
    15  campus;
    16    c. raise awareness of  services  currently  offered  on  campus  which
    17  address basic food needs; and
    18    d.  continue  to build strategic partnerships at the local, state, and
    19  national levels to address food insecurity among students.
    20    3. a. For a four-year institution to be designated  as  a  hunger-free
    21  campus, such institution shall:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05558-01-3
        S. 2913                             2

     1    (i)  establish  a  hunger  task force which includes student represen-
     2  tatives from the student body that meets a minimum of  three  times  per
     3  academic year to set at least two goals with action plans;
     4    (ii)  designate a staff member responsible for assisting students with
     5  enrollment in the  state's  supplemental  nutrition  assistance  program
     6  (SNAP);
     7    (iii)  provide options for students to utilize SNAP benefits at campus
     8  stores or provide students with information  on  establishments  in  the
     9  surrounding area of campus where they can utilize SNAP EBT benefits;
    10    (iv)  hold  an  awareness  day  campaign  activity or event during the
    11  national hunger and homelessness awareness week;
    12    (v) provide at least one physical food pantry  on  campus,  or  enable
    13  students  to  receive  food through a separate, stigma-free arrangement.
    14  Such campus may partner with a local food bank or food  pantry  to  meet
    15  the requirements of this subparagraph;
    16    (vi)  develop  a  student meal credit donation program, or designate a
    17  certain amount of funds for free food vouchers that might  otherwise  be
    18  raised  through such a program. Each institution of higher education may
    19  develop its own procedures for a meal donation program; and
    20    (vii) annually conduct a student survey on hunger,  developed  by  the
    21  commissioner,  and submit the results of the survey and a best practices
    22  campus profile to the commissioner at a time prescribed by  the  commis-
    23  sioner  for inclusion in a comparative profile of each campus designated
    24  as a hunger-free campus. In the development of the survey,  the  commis-
    25  sioner  shall  utilize any existing surveys designed to collect informa-
    26  tion on food insecurity among students enrolled in public and  nonprofit
    27  private institutions of higher education.
    28    b.  For  a  two-year  institution  to  be  designated as a hunger-free
    29  campus, it shall meet all of the requirements for four-year institutions
    30  as set forth in paragraph a of this subdivision, with the  exception  of
    31  the requirements in subparagraphs (iii) and (vi) of such paragraph.
    32    4.  The  commissioner  shall allocate grant funding to each public and
    33  nonprofit private institution of higher education that has one  or  more
    34  campuses  designated  by  the  commissioner  as  a hunger-free campus in
    35  accordance with the criteria established pursuant to  subdivision  three
    36  of  this  section.  The  commissioner shall determine the amount of each
    37  grant which shall be used by the institution  to  further  address  food
    38  insecurity among students enrolled in the institution.  The commissioner
    39  or his or her designee shall prioritize grants to institutions of higher
    40  education  with the highest percentage of Pell grant recipients enrolled
    41  in the student body. Following  the  awarding  of  such  grant  funding,
    42  recipients  will be expected to provide basic information to the depart-
    43  ment on how such grant award was used, its deliverables and outcomes.
    44    5. The commissioner shall submit a report to the governor, the  tempo-
    45  rary  president  of the senate and the speaker of the assembly, no later
    46  than two years after the establishment of the hunger-free  campus  grant
    47  program. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the number and
    48  amounts  of  the  grant  awards, the impact the grant program has had on
    49  establishing additional  hunger-free  campuses  at  public  and  private
    50  institutions  of  higher  education  and reducing the number of students
    51  experiencing food insecurity, and recommendations regarding  the  poten-
    52  tial establishment of an annual appropriation for the grant program.
    53    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.