Bill Text: NY A06718 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the "food retail establishment subsidization for healthy communities act" (FRESH Communities); provides loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies and grants to businesses, municipalities, not-for-profit corporations or local development corporations for the purpose of attracting, maintaining or permitting the expansion of food retail establishments in underserved areas.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-30 - enacting clause stricken [A06718 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06718-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6718

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 5, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. BRONSON, SIMONE -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Economic Development

        AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in
          relation to enacting the food retail establishment  subsidization  for
          healthy communities (FRESH Communities) act

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

     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the  "food  retail  establishment  subsidization for healthy communities
     3  act".
     4    § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that the lack of access
     5  to fresh foods is a problem  of  growing  concern  in  many  communities
     6  across  the state. Substantial increases in urban land values and rents,
     7  limited access to financing and other economic pressures have left  many
     8  lower-income residents in urban and rural areas underserved by supermar-
     9  kets  and other food retail establishments. The resulting lack of access
    10  to a variety of fresh food retailers makes it more difficult and  expen-
    11  sive  for  these residents to maintain a nutritionally balanced diet and
    12  leads to increased public health costs,  dilutes  the  value  of  public
    13  assistance  for food purchases, leads to greater travel times and energy
    14  expenditures to obtain fresh food, and deprives the state's  farmers  of
    15  markets for their products. Providing access to financial assistance for
    16  urban  and  rural  supermarkets  in  underserved areas will remedy these
    17  adverse conditions, create employment opportunities and help to revital-
    18  ize and stabilize currently underserved neighborhoods.
    19    § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 16-m of section 1 of chapter 174 of  the
    20  laws  of  1968, constituting the New York state urban development corpo-
    21  ration act, is amended by adding a new paragraph (p) to read as follows:
    22    (p) Loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies  and  grants  to  busi-
    23  nesses, municipalities, not-for-profit corporations or local development
    24  corporations  for  the  purpose of attracting, maintaining or permitting

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08542-01-3
        A. 6718                             2

     1  the expansion of food retail establishments in underserved areas.    The
     2  corporation shall consider the economic viability of the project and the
     3  potential  impact on the community when evaluating applications for such
     4  loans,  loan  guarantees, interest subsidies and grants. The corporation
     5  shall establish performance indicators to assess  the  progress  of  the
     6  projects receiving monies pursuant to the authorization provided in this
     7  paragraph,  and  track and publish this information on its website.  For
     8  purposes of this paragraph, "underserved areas"  shall  include  low  or
     9  moderate-income census tracts, areas of below average supermarket densi-
    10  ty  or  having  a supermarket customer base with more than fifty percent
    11  living in low-income census tracts, or other areas demonstrated to  have
    12  significant  access limitations due to travel distance, as determined by
    13  the corporation, and "food retail establishments" shall  include  super-
    14  markets and other grocery retailers that operate on a self-service basis
    15  and  sell  a  minimum  percentage,  as determined by the corporation, of
    16  produce, meat, poultry, seafood, baked goods and/or dairy  products  and
    17  which:
    18    (i) participate in the New York grown and certified program;
    19    (ii)  accept  payment  from  electronic  benefit  transfer through the
    20  supplemental  nutrition  assistance  program  and  through  the  special
    21  supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children;
    22    (iii) do not charge a membership fee; and
    23    (iv)  hire residents living within a twenty mile radius of such retail
    24  food establishment.
    25    § 4.  This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
    26  the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however that the
    27  urban development corporation shall be immediately  authorized  to  take
    28  any  and  all  actions  necessary  to  fully  implement the provision of
    29  section three of this act on or before such effective date; and provided
    30  further, that the amendments to section 16-m of  the  urban  development
    31  corporation  act  made by section three of this act shall not affect the
    32  expiration of such section and shall be deemed to expire therewith.