Senate committee advances $10 million grocery initiative (SB282) to address food deserts

The Senate Committee on Government Affairs voted to amend and do pass Senate Bill 282, which would require the Department of Health and Human Services to establish an administrative grocery initiative to award grants and provide technical assistance to grocery stores in areas at risk of becoming food deserts and to fund a Council on Food Security research and recommendations effort.

Jan Stenbeck of the Legislative Counsel Bureau summarized the bill in work session, noting the proposal requires the department to award grants and provide technical assistance to certain grocery stores, directs the Council on Food Security to research and submit recommendations related to urban and rural food deserts, and includes an appropriation of $10,000,000 for the grocery initiative.

An amendment presented during the hearing by Allison Herzig, chair of the Council on Food Security, removes the council as the entity that designates an area as a food desert and instead authorizes the Department to designate one or more existing areas by regulation. After discussion, the committee member motioned to amend and do pass SB282; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote recorded as 4 ayes and 1 nay. The clerk recorded ayes from Senators Rogich, Daley, Orenshaw (recorded in transcript as Orangehaw) and Flores, and a nay from Senator Krasner. The motion carried and the committee requested a floor statement from the majority leader.

The bill's language would appropriate $10,000,000 to the Department of Health and Human Services for grants and technical assistance for grocery stores in designated food-insecure areas and require a written report to the 84th session of the legislature summarizing the Council on Food Security's research and recommendations.

The committee advanced the bill in work session; the amendment text is attached to the committee record and will be included in the bill packet for the next stage of consideration.