Briefing for stakeholders

Key food system bills in the 2021-22 legislative session An Act Supporting the Commonwealth’s Farmers

Senator Jo Comerford (SD.1852) / Representative Natalie Blais (HD.2944) Farmers in Massachusetts struggle to remain sustainable, on average earning just 96 cents for every dollar they spend producing food. They must compete in the global marketplace while facing higher input costs, more restrictive regulations, and fewer support resources than farmers in other states. Supports from the state can help close that gap.

• Creates a “circuit rider” program at MDAR • More fairly sets value of APR purchases • Establishes $3 million Next Generation Farmers Fund to provide education grants • Taxes some processing infrastructure at ag value • Allows non-contiguous parcels to be taxed at 61A rates • Directs MEMA to incorporate food production capacity in disaster planning An Act regarding a farmland protection and viability action plan

Sen. Anne Gobi (SD.1169) / Rep. Natalie Blais (HD.268) Massachusetts has many policies and programs to protect farmland, but no unified plan or set of comprehensive goals that they all work to support.

• Directs EEA to establish a farmland protection and viability advisory commission. • Directs commission to develop a farmland plan to establish goals, priorities and recommended actions for farmland protection. • Plan will include: • inventory of state land in active agricultural production or that is potentially suitable for farming; • a review of state agency policies related to the use or lease of land for farming; • an analysis of trends and threats related to farmland loss and conversion; • recommended revisions to the APR program; • analysis of farmland enrolled in a program under chapter 61A; • goals and benchmarks related to farmland conversion, farmland protection and farmland access; and • recommendations for state policy changes and program funding levels. • Would allow state to leverage additional federal land protection funding. An Act relative to an agricultural healthy incentives program

Sen. Anne Gobi (SD.1179) / Rep. (HD.2939) The Healthy Incentives Program leverages federal SNAP funds by incentivizing SNAP recipients’ purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers, improving health outcomes for vulnerable communities and increasing sales for local farms.

• Writes HIP into law. • Establishes fund for donations and appropriations. An Act promoting equity in agriculture

Senator Jo Comerford (SD.1036) / Representative Natalie Blais (HD.1661) According to the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, BIPOC farmers are represented on only 2.3% of the Commonwealth’s farms, farms that steward just .3% of the land in farming and sell just .4% of the market value of agricultural goods in the Massachusetts, despite people of color making up 29% of the state’s population.

• Establishes a commission on agricultural equity, comprised primarily of BIPOC farmers. • Commission is charged with developing recommendations to MDAR to more equitably serve socially disadvantaged farmers in: • grantmaking processes; • data collection and dissemination; and • policy-setting. An Act encouraging the donation of food to persons in need

Senator Jo Comerford (SD.385) / Representative (HD.1204) Thousands of tons of edible food is sent to landfills each year because of donors’ concerns about liability, and because diverting it to those who need it can be costly.

• Relieves liability concerns for food donors. • Establishes a tax credit for farmers who donate crops. An Act relative to in-state meat inspection programs An Act to support infrastructure needs for livestock farmers

Senator Anne Gobi (SD.1705) / Representative Natalie Blais (HD.4085) Demand for local meat is increasing, but Massachusetts livestock farmers have severely limited options for processing animals.

• Establishes a state meat inspection program. • Ultimate goal of ensuring farmers and MDAR are engaged in program development and operations. An act supporting the Commonwealth’s food system

Rep. Dan Donahue (HD.3588) Many state agencies play roles in supporting and regulating the food system, but because of limited communication between them some of these efforts are duplicative, inefficient, or even contradictory. The launch of the Food Security Task Force as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for such coordination, but that need is not limited to times of crisis.

Establishes a state food system coordinator position. New staff member serves in an advisory capacity to all agencies to: • coordinate and inventory food security programs; • develop and track metrics related to food system goals; • identify opportunities to eliminate duplicative efforts and strengthen complementary programs and projects; • identify gaps in services and supports and make recommendations; and • provide input to help coordinate outreach to underserved communities. SD519/HD1161: An Act Relative to Universal School Meals • Require all schools to make school breakfast and lunch available to all students at no charge to the student or their family. • Require that the cost of providing school meals be covered by a combination of federal reimbursement and state funding. • Encourage schools to maximize federal dollars by supporting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach to families, qualifying more students for federally reimbursed free meals.

WWW.FEEDKIDS.ORG | [email protected] | #FEEDKIDSMA An Act to Streamline Access to Critical Public Health and Common Apps to Safety-net Programs through Common Applications: HD. 1500/SD. 1015 Close the Gaps

Rep , Sen Sal DiDomenico

HD.1500 and SD.1015 will: • Make permanent in law the right to apply for SNAP the same time as applying for health care.

• Allow families to apply for DTA cash assistance at same time as SNAP. (DTA data confirms 22K MA families with minor children getting SNAP have $0 income.)

• Move toward a common application for other needs-based programs like child care, housing, fuel assistance.

More information: Pat Baker [email protected]; Jamie Klufts [email protected] ; Kate Saville Worrel [email protected] AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE MASSACHUSETTS HUNGER - F R E E CAMPUS INITIATIVE

SD1477/HD2969 SEN. HARRIETTE CHANDLER, REP. ANDY VARGAS, REP. MINDY DOMB

• Creates an Office of Capacity Building services within DHE to support public higher education institutions in understanding and addressing existing gaps in addressing food insecurity on their campuses. • Creates a grant program for colleges to: • Designate a staff person to focus on food security issues • Establish a hunger-free taskforce • Help students apply for SNAP and other benefits • Host or participate in annual hunger awareness events • Establish on-campus food distribution or access to a food pantry • Develop meal credit sharing program • Create emergency fund to support students in crisis Laura Sylvester • [email protected] AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FOR WORKING FAMILIES AND THE CREATION OF A PILOT PROGRAM TO ADDRESS THE IMPACTS OF THE CLIFF EFFECT

SD1025/HD1701 SEN. ERIC LESSER, REP. PATRICIA DUFFY, REP. CARLOS GONZALEZ

• Creates a three-year pilot program for 100 low-income working families or individuals as they transition off public benefits, using the MA EITC • Provides coaching, mentoring, access to skills training, advancement opportunities, financial counseling • Creates a savings account for participants up to $10,000 by leveraging the MA EITC • Allows people to accept raises/new positions without fear of being worse off financially due to loss of benefits • Administered by the Economic Development Council of Western MA/Working Cities Challenge Group, in collaboration with DTA

Laura Sylvester • [email protected] Bill to Establish a Farm to School Grant Program HD. 2698 & SD. 1604

• Filed by Sen. Lesser & Rep. Learn more and get involved: Pignatelli www.massfarmtoschool.org/policy • A competitive grant program Simca Horwitz, Co-Director within Dept. of Elementary & [email protected] Secondary Education to fund infrastructure, training, & education • Public K-12 and Early Education & Care eligible (if participate in federal meal programs) • Prioritize high need districts Food & Health Pilot Bills (SD.1547 & HD.2459) Reintroduced by Senator Cyr and Representative Denise Garlick Feb. 17th Requires MassHealth to create the first multi-tiered Food is Medicine Medicaid pilot in the country, testing the impact of offering a suite of 3 nutrition services in 1 health care system

Possible Eligibility Services Provided Potential Evaluation Metrics Food Insecurity + 1. Medically Tailored Meals • Total Health Care Costs • Type 2 Diabetes • Hypertension 2. Medically Tailored Food Packages • ED Utilization • Renal Disease • Obesity 3. Nutritious Food Referrals • Hospital Admissions & • Pre-diabetes • Overweight (Produce Prescription) Readmissions • Congestive Heart Failure • Pharmacy Costs • Non-clinical Outcomes **The legislation creates a Food and Health Pilot Research Commission to assist in the pilot design and evaluation** Goals of the Pilot 1. Evaluate the impact of offering a suite of nutrition services in one health care institution

2. Expand access to FIM interventions across Massachusetts Learn More FoodisMedicineMA.org 3. Enhance the ability of our health care system to provide appropriate services based on patient need [email protected] Next Steps for Legislation

• Bill number and committee assignments • Hearings in a few months • Cosponsors can sign on now – contact your legislators! • Sign on to the Collaborative’s white paper • Follow for updates Questions?

• Slides will be sent to everyone shortly • Video will be available soon after that • Collaborative staff are always available for more information: contact info at www.mafoodsystem.org