Healthy Food Financing Initiative - Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to establish an initiative to improve access to healthy foods in underserved areas, create and preserve quality jobs, and revitalize low-income communities by providing loans and grants to eligible fresh food retailers to overcome the higher costs and initial entry barriers in underserved areas.
Provides that funds shall be used to: (1) create revolving loan pools of capital and provide grants to finance eligible projects or partnerships, and (2) provide technical assistance and limited administrative expenses.
Requires projects to accept SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) benefits.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2343 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2343
To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to
establish in the Department of Agriculture a Healthy Food Financing
Initiative.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 12, 2013
Ms. Schwartz (for herself, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Blumenauer, and Ms. Pingree
of Maine) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to
establish in the Department of Agriculture a Healthy Food Financing
Initiative.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Healthy Food Financing Initiative''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1)(A) the United States faces an obesity epidemic in which
30.5 percent of children ages 10 through 17 are overweight or
obese;
(B) the obesity epidemic contributes to increasing rates of
chronic illness, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer;
and
(C) the obesity epidemic cost the United States
$147,000,000 in medical expenses in 2008, and this cost is
expected to rise in the future;
(2) the Reinvestment Fund estimates that almost 25,000,000
people in the United States live in low-income communities with
limited access to supermarkets and grocery stores;
(3) more than 130 studies show that--
(A) access to healthy food is particularly a
problem in hundreds of low-income, rural, and urban
communities, as well as communities of color in the
United States; and
(B) the opportunity to access healthy food is
linked to lower levels of obesity, diabetes, and other
food-related chronic illnesses, leading to better
health outcomes;
(4)(A) children from low-income families are twice as
likely to be overweight as children from higher income
families; and
(B) African-American and Hispanic children are more likely
than Caucasian children to be obese;
(5) studies show that when healthy foods are available,
people will increase consumption of fruits and vegetables;
(6) leading public health experts, including the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Heart
Association, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Public
Health Association, agree that providing improved access to
supermarkets and grocery stores is needed to improve public
health and prevent obesity;
(7) developing high-quality fresh food retail outlets
creates jobs, expands markets for agricultural producers in the
United States, and supports economic vitality in underserved
communities;
(8)(A) supermarkets and grocery stores often face barriers
to opening stores in food deserts;
(B) the supermarket industry operates on an historically
thin profit margin;
(C) according to the 2011 National Grocers Association
Independent Grocers Survey, the average net profit margin
before taxes for independent grocers in 2010 was 1.08 percent;
(D) urban operators face barriers, including--
(i) increased real estate costs or limited
availability of suitable commercial real estate in the
community;
(ii) increased employee training needs and costs;
(iii) elevated security expenses; and
(iv) often zoning restrictions;
(E) supermarkets and grocery stores in rural food deserts
also face barriers, including increased food delivery costs due
to distance from distributers, dispersed customer base, and low
volume; and
(F) access to affordable capital is a significant problem
for both rural and urban projects;
(9) by providing seed capital and technical assistance, the
Federal Government, through time-limited investments, can--
(A) attract private sector investment to create and
retain much-needed jobs; and
(B) provide long-term, sustainable solutions to the
decades-old problem of limited access to healthy food
in underserved, low-income urban and rural communities;
and
(10) legislation establishing a national fund modeled on
the successful Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative
will help address the obesity epidemic while also creating
much-needed jobs and economic revitalization, and solving the
healthy food access problem in hundreds of communities across
the United States.
SEC. 3. HEALTHY FOOD FINANCING INITIATIVE.
(a) In General.--Subtitle D of title II of the Department of
Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6951 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 242. HEALTHY FOOD FINANCING INITIATIVE.
``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to enhance the
authorities of the Secretary to support efforts to provide access to
healthy food by establishing an initiative to improve access to healthy
foods in underserved areas, to create and preserve quality jobs, and to
revitalize low-income communities by providing loans and grants to
eligible fresh, healthy food retailers to overcome the higher costs and
initial barriers to entry in underserved areas.
``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Community development financial institution.--The
term `community development financial institution' has the
meaning given the term in section 103 of the Community
Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12
U.S.C. 4702).
``(2) Initiative.--The term `Initiative' means the Healthy
Food Financing Initiative established under subsection (c)(1).
``(3) National fund manager.--The term `national fund
manager' means a community development financial institution
that is--
``(A) in existence on the date of enactment of this
section; and
``(B) certified by the Community Development
Financial Institution Fund of the Department of
Treasury to manage the Initiative for purposes of--
``(i) raising private capital;
``(ii) providing financial and technical
assistance to partnerships; and
``(iii) funding eligible projects to
attract fresh, healthy food retailers to
underserved areas, in accordance with this
section.
``(4) Partnership.--The term `partnership' means a
regional, State, or local public-private partnership that--
``(A) is organized to improve access to fresh,
healthy foods;
``(B) provides financial and technical assistance
to eligible projects; and
``(C) meets such other criteria as the Secretary
may establish.
``(5) Perishable food.--The term `perishable food' means a
staple food that is fresh, refrigerated, or frozen.
``(6) Quality job.--The term `quality job' means a job that
provides wages and other benefits comparable to, or better
than, similar positions in existing businesses of similar size
in similar local economies.
``(7) Staple food.--
``(A) In general.--The term `staple food' means
food that is a basic dietary item.
``(B) Inclusions.--The term `staple food'
includes--
``(i) bread;
``(ii) flour;
``(iii) fruits;
``(iv) vegetables; and
``(v) meat.
``(c) Initiative.--
``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish an
initiative to achieve the purpose described in subsection (a)
in accordance with this subsection.
``(2) Implementation.--
``(A) In general.--
``(i) In general.--In carrying out the
Initiative, the Secretary shall provide funding
to entities with eligible projects, as
described in subparagraph (B), subject to the
priorities described in subparagraph (C).
``(ii) Use of funds.--Funds provided to an
entity pursuant to clause (i) shall be used--
``(I) to create revolving loan
pools of capital or other products to
provide loans to finance eligible
projects or partnerships;
``(II) to provide grants for
eligible projects or partnerships;
``(III) to provide technical
assistance to funded projects and
entities seeking Initiative funding;
and
``(IV) to cover administrative
expenses of the national fund manager
in an amount not to exceed 10 percent
of the Federal funds provided.
``(B) Eligible projects.--Subject to the approval
of the Secretary, the national fund manager shall
establish eligibility criteria for projects under the
Initiative, which shall include the existence or
planned execution of agreements--
``(i) to expand or preserve the
availability of staple foods in underserved
areas with moderate- and low-income populations
by maintaining or increasing the number of
retail outlets that offer an assortment of
perishable food and staple food items, as
determined by the Secretary, in those areas;
and
``(ii) to accept benefits under the
supplemental nutrition assistance program
established under the Food and Nutrition Act of
2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.).
``(C) Priorities.--In carrying out the Initiative,
priority shall be given to projects that--
``(i) are located in severely distressed
low-income communities, as defined by the
Community Development Financial Institutions
Fund of the Department of Treasury; and
``(ii) include 1 or more of the following
characteristics:
``(I) The project will create or
retain quality jobs for low-income
residents in the community.
``(II) The project supports
regional food systems and locally grown
foods, to the maximum extent
practicable.
``(III) In areas served by public
transit, the project is accessible by
public transit.
``(IV) The project involves women-
or minority-owned businesses.
``(V) The project receives funding
from other sources, including other
Federal agencies.
``(VI) The project otherwise
advances the purpose of this section,
as determined by the Secretary.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $125,000,000,
to remain available until expended.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 296(b) of the Department of
Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (6), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; or''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(8) the authority of the Secretary to establish and carry
out the Health Food Financing Initiative under section 242.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Nutrition.
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