Bill Text: NY S00996 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires public schools to offer plant-based food options in food service.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S00996 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S00996-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           996

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 9, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  HOYLMAN,  ADDABBO, BRISPORT, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM,
          JACKSON, KAVANAGH, MYRIE, RIVERA, SEPULVEDA, SKOUFIS -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law, in relation to requiring public
          schools to offer plant-based food options in food service

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

     1    Section  1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 915-a
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 915-a. Plant-based food options. 1. Upon request  by  a  student  or
     4  person  in  parental  relation to the student, every public school shall
     5  offer the student a plant-based food option as an alternative  to  every
     6  meal  or  snack  offered  in food service to the student. All the public
     7  school's written material describing food offerings  shall  include  the
     8  availability  of a plant-based food option.  The plant-based food option
     9  shall be offered at no additional cost to the student beyond what  would
    10  be charged for a comparable non-plant-based food option.
    11    2.  The  school  shall  respond in a reasonable manner and time to any
    12  request made under this section,  consistent  with  guidance  by  school
    13  authorities.  The  request  shall  be effective for every school meal or
    14  snack in which the student is reasonably expected to  participate.  This
    15  section  does  not  preclude the offering of plant-based food options to
    16  students who have not requested it, and does not preclude an  individual
    17  who  has requested a plant-based food option from selecting a non-plant-
    18  based food option.
    19    3. As used in this section:
    20    (a) "Plant-based food option" means food or beverages that are free of
    21  animal products and, as relates to the  "protein"  portion  of  a  meal,
    22  recognized  by  the  United  States  Department of Agriculture as a meat
    23  alternate for purposes of the national school lunch program.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04256-01-3
        S. 996                              2

     1    (b) "Animal product" means meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs, honey,
     2  and any derivative thereof.
     3    4.  In  implementing  this  section, the school and school authorities
     4  shall consult with the  school  district  nutrition  advisory  committee
     5  under section nine hundred eighteen of this article, where applicable.
     6    §  2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to public
     7  school food service beginning with the school year, as  defined  in  the
     8  education law, beginning one year after it shall have become a law.