HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2891        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 233

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr. and Hannah Kane

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to the healthy incentives program.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

20th Middlesex

2/11/2021

Hannah Kane

11th Worcester

2/18/2021

Susan Williams Gifford

2nd Plymouth

2/25/2021

Paul K. Frost

7th Worcester

3/11/2021

Kimberly N. Ferguson

1st Worcester

3/22/2021

Mathew J. Muratore

1st Plymouth

3/24/2021

Susannah M. Whipps

2nd Franklin

3/31/2021

Steven S. Howitt

4th Bristol

4/7/2021


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2891        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 233

By Representatives Jones of North Reading and Kane of Shrewsbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 233) of Bradley H. Jones, Jr., Hannah Kane and others relative to establishing a healthy incentives program for the purpose of ensuring the needs of SNAP recipients and farmers.  Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

_______________

 

An Act relative to the healthy incentives program.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. The department of transitional assistance and the department of agricultural resources shall jointly select a state wide organization, which engages with both SNAP recipients and Massachusetts farmers, to conduct a survey regarding the healthy incentives program for the purpose of ensuring that said program is best meeting the needs of both consumers and farmers, and to inform future outreach efforts about the program. The survey shall be distributed to both participants and non participants of the program.

The survey shall collect information about the healthy incentives program from Massachusetts farmers and SNAP recipients, including, but not limited to:

(i) The knowledge that both participants and non participants have about the healthy incentives program including, but not limited to, the purpose and benefits of the program, and where and how the benefits of the program can be utilized;

(ii) the frequency with which participants utilize the program;

(iii) how and where participants learned about the program;

(iv) any barriers that both participants and non participants experience when trying to utilize the program;

(v) and feedback from both participants and non participants regarding their experiences with the program.

SECTION 2. The commissioners of the Massachusetts department of transitional assistance and the department of agricultural resources shall establish rules and procedures, including deadlines for dissemination and collection of survey information, consistent with the purposes of this act, and shall promote the effective solicitation to achieve the highest practical response rate, collection, and publication of information gathered from the commonwealth’s farmers and SNAP recipients regarding their experiences with and knowledge of the healthy incentive’s program. The commissioners shall ensure that the survey is conducted no later than 12 months within the passage of this act. The commissioners shall also ensure that the results of the survey are published on their department’s websites, and submitted to the clerks of the house and senate within 12 months of the passage of this act.