Bill Text: TX HB1289 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to measures to address student hunger at postsecondary educational institutions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-13 - Filed [HB1289 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB1289-Introduced.html

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89R1553 MM-D
By: Bucy H.B. No. 1289

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures to address student hunger at postsecondary
educational institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.9231 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.9231. FOOD VENDOR CONTRACT REQUIREMENT. (a) In
this section, "institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) A contract entered into by an institution of higher
education with a person for the person to sell or otherwise provide
food on the institution's campus must require the person, if
eligible, to seek authorization to become a retailer and accept
benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program under
Chapter 33, Human Resources Code.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 61.0763 and 61.07631 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.0763. HUNGER-FREE CAMPUS PROGRAM. (a) The board
shall establish and administer a hunger-free campus program to
support institutions of higher education in establishing essential
and sustainable solutions to hunger at institution campuses in this
state. The solutions must include:
(1) allowing students to donate meal credits from the
student's meal plan to be distributed to peers who may be facing
food insecurity;
(2) establishing food pantries on campus;
(3) developing, in collaboration with the Health and
Human Services Commission, capacity-building strategies for
increasing student enrollment in the supplemental nutrition
assistance program under Chapter 33, Human Resources Code,
including strategies for identifying students who previously
received meals under the national free or reduced-price lunch
program established under 42 U.S.C. Section 1751 et seq. and
enrolling them in the supplemental nutrition assistance program;
and
(4) any other solutions identified by the work group
established under Subsection (c), institution and campus
personnel, or the board.
(b) The board shall establish criteria under which the board
may designate a campus of an institution of higher education as a
Hunger-Free Campus if the campus applies and meets the
qualifications.
(c) The board shall establish a work group to develop best
practices guidelines for addressing student hunger on the campuses
of institutions of higher education, including methods for
implementing the solutions to hunger described by Subsection (a).
(d) The work group must include members who are
representatives of:
(1) the legislature;
(2) institutions of higher education;
(3) the board; and
(4) other relevant stakeholders.
(e) In determining the composition of the work group, the
board shall:
(1) ensure work group members represent various types
of institutions of higher education located throughout this state;
and
(2) appoint one work group member to serve as
presiding officer.
(f) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the work group shall submit a report to the legislature regarding
its findings and recommendations.
Sec. 61.07631. HUNGER-FREE CAMPUS GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The
board, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, shall
establish and administer a program to award grants to eligible
institutions of higher education to support efforts to fight hunger
on the campuses of those institutions.
(b) Subject to money appropriated or otherwise available,
the board shall award grants on a competitive basis to institutions
of higher education that have one or more campuses designated as a
Hunger-Free Campus by the board under Section 61.0763(b).
(c) The board shall determine the amount of each grant,
prioritizing grants made to institutions of higher education with
the highest percentages of eligible Pell grant program recipients
enrolled in the institution.
(d) Grants awarded under this section must be used by the
receiving institution of higher education to:
(1) address student hunger on the institution's
campuses;
(2) promote essential and sustainable solutions to
address basic food needs on the institution's campuses;
(3) raise awareness of services that address basic
food needs and that are currently offered on the institution's
campuses; and
(4) build partnerships at the local, state, and
national levels to address food insecurity among students.
(e) The board shall adopt rules to implement this section,
including rules establishing an application and selection process
for awarding grants.
(f) Each institution of higher education that receives a
grant under the program shall submit a report to the board, in the
manner the board prescribes, that describes how the institution
used the grant award.
(g) Not later than December 1, 2028, the board shall submit
to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the
house of representatives a report on the grant program under this
section. The report must include:
(1) the number and amounts of grants awarded;
(2) the impact of the program on establishing
Hunger-Free Campuses at institutions of higher education;
(3) the impact of the program on reducing the number of
students experiencing food insecurity; and
(4) recommendations for statutory or funding changes
necessary to implement successful innovations for reducing hunger
at institutions of higher education.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 33, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 33.020 to read as follows:
Sec. 33.020. SNAP ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN STUDENTS ENROLLED
IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION PROGRAMS. (a) In this section,
"postsecondary educational institution" includes:
(1) an institution of higher education or a private or
independent institution of higher education as defined by Section
61.003, Education Code; and
(2) a career school or college as defined by Section
132.001, Education Code.
(b) The commission shall, as authorized under 7 U.S.C.
Section 2015(o)(6), provide an exemption from work requirements to
provide supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits to an
individual who is:
(1) ineligible to receive supplemental nutrition
assistance program benefits based solely on the work requirements;
and
(2) enrolled as a student in at least 12 semester
credit hours in a postsecondary educational institution.
(c) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules to
implement this section, including rules that ensure a student
remains eligible for supplemental nutrition assistance benefits
during a break in the semester or academic term of the postsecondary
educational institution in which the student is enrolled.
SECTION 4. Section 51.9231, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a contract entered into on or after the
effective date of this Act. A contract entered into before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the contract was entered into, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. (a) Not later than December 31, 2025, the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board shall establish the work group
required by Section 61.0763, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Not later than December 1, 2026, the work group
established under Section 61.0763, Education Code, as added by this
Act, shall submit its initial report.
SECTION 6. Not later than December 31, 2026, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt the rules necessary to implement Section 33.020, Human
Resources Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 7. Section 33.020, Human Resources Code, as added
by this Act, applies only to an initial determination or
recertification of eligibility for the supplemental nutrition
assistance program under Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, that is
made on or after the effective date of this Act. A determination or
recertification made before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the determination or
recertification was made, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 8. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.