Bill > A3825

Introduced Session

This bill would direct the Department of Agriculture ("department") to establish a program, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, to provide grants to support seafood gleaning programs operated by eligible non-profit organizations in the State. A nonprofit organization would be eligible for a grant under the program, in a maximum amount of up to $250,000 per program year, if the organization operates a seafood gleaning program, pursuant to which, gleaned seafood received from commercial fishermen, are donated, by the receiving nonprofit organization, to emergency feeding organizations and local distribution agencies for further distribution, thereby, to food insecure and low-income individuals and families in the State. In order to effectuate the grant program, the bill would require the department to: establish criteria, supplemental to, but consistent with, the basic eligibility criteria set forth in the bill, to be used in qualifying an eligible non-profit organization for a program grant award; adopt guidelines and procedures for the submission of grant applications; establish criteria for the evaluation and prioritization of program grant applications; identify the seafood gleaning-related project costs eligible for grant funding and the specific factors that will be considered, by the department, in determining the appropriate dollar amount of each grant award issued under the program; and identify the terms and conditions for the awarding and use of program grant funds, including, at a minimum, conditions requiring a grant recipient to report relevant information, to the department, regarding the recipient's expenditure of awarded grant funds. The bill would also require the department to submit a written report, to the Governor and the Legislature, identifying the name of each nonprofit organization awarded a program grant in the annual reporting period and providing, for each such grant recipient, a description of the organization's seafood gleaning program and identify the total amount of seafood donated, per year, through the gleaning program, the total number of employees and volunteers participating in the seafood gleaning program, and the total number, and location, of recipients of seafood that has been donated, under the gleaning program, during the reporting period. The bill would appropriate $250,000 from the General Fund, to the Department of Agriculture, to finance initial program grants and administrative costs. The bill would additionally require the Secretary of Agriculture to annually request additional appropriations, as part of the department's yearly budget proposal, as may be necessary to fund the grant program on an ongoing basis.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Paul Kanitra (R)*,  Luanne Peterpaul (D)*,  Alex Sauickie (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee (on 02/22/2024)

Official Document