HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2939        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 250

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Paul W. Mark

_________________

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 an agricultural healthy incentives program.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Paul W. Mark

2nd Berkshire

2/18/2021

Lindsay N. Sabadosa

1st Hampshire

2/18/2021

Susannah M. Whipps

2nd Franklin

2/22/2021

Natalie M. Blais

1st Franklin

2/22/2021

Joanne M. Comerford

Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester

2/22/2021

Christina A. Minicucci

14th Essex

2/24/2021

Smitty Pignatelli

4th Berkshire

2/24/2021

Elizabeth A. Malia

11th Suffolk

2/24/2021

Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.

12th Hampden

2/24/2021

Carmine Lawrence Gentile

13th Middlesex

2/24/2021

Brian W. Murray

10th Worcester

2/24/2021

Michael J. Barrett

Third Middlesex

2/25/2021

James J. O'Day

14th Worcester

2/25/2021

Tami L. Gouveia

14th Middlesex

2/25/2021

William C. Galvin

6th Norfolk

2/25/2021

John H. Rogers

12th Norfolk

2/26/2021

John Barrett, III

1st Berkshire

2/26/2021

Sarah K. Peake

4th Barnstable

2/26/2021

Daniel M. Donahue

16th Worcester

2/26/2021

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf

17th Worcester

2/26/2021

Kimberly N. Ferguson

1st Worcester

2/26/2021

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

2/26/2021

Daniel R. Carey

2nd Hampshire

2/26/2021

Gerard J. Cassidy

9th Plymouth

2/26/2021

Antonio F. D. Cabral

13th Bristol

2/26/2021

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

3/5/2021

Peter Capano

11th Essex

3/2/2021

Patricia A. Duffy

5th Hampden

3/3/2021

Hannah Kane

11th Worcester

3/8/2021

Jon Santiago

9th Suffolk

3/5/2021

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

3/8/2021

Michael P. Kushmerek

3rd Worcester

3/10/2021

Tommy Vitolo

15th Norfolk

3/14/2021

Kate Lipper-Garabedian

32nd Middlesex

3/31/2021

Kip A. Diggs

2nd Barnstable

4/1/2021

Mathew J. Muratore

1st Plymouth

4/2/2021

Tram T. Nguyen

18th Essex

4/6/2021

Tricia Farley-Bouvier

3rd Berkshire

4/9/2021

Mindy Domb

3rd Hampshire

4/20/2021

Natalie M. Higgins

4th Worcester

5/10/2021

Kenneth I. Gordon

21st Middlesex

5/13/2021

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

5/26/2021

Thomas M. Stanley

9th Middlesex

5/28/2021

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

6/15/2021

Marcos A. Devers

16th Essex

8/19/2021

Adrian C. Madaro

1st Suffolk

9/29/2021

Danillo A. Sena

37th Middlesex

11/8/2021

Walter F. Timilty

Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth

11/12/2021

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

11/17/2021


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2939        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 250

By Mr. Mark of Peru, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 250) of Paul W. Mark and others for legislation to authorize agricultural healthy incentives program.  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 an agricultural 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. Chapter 128 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 2E the following section:-

Section 2F. (a) The department of transitional assistance, in partnership with the department of agricultural resources and the department of public health, shall operate a healthy incentives program. The program shall provide that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, established pursuant to the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, 7 U.S.C. section 2011 hereinafter referred to as SNAP, redeemed for fruit and vegetable purchases, either fresh, canned, dried or frozen, by a SNAP recipient at a participating vendor, shall entitle the recipient to receive a matching benefit reimbursed on the recipient’s EBT card, within limits to be established by the department.

(b) There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund, to be administered by the commissioner of the department of transitional assistance, which shall be known as the Massachusetts Healthy Incentives Fund. The Fund shall consist of all revenues from public and private sources as appropriations, gifts, grants, donations, reimbursements from the federal government and grants-in-aid or other receipts to further the purposes of the Fund in accordance with this section.

(c ) The Department of Transitional Assistance and its partners may apply for any available federal programs such as Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture to provide matching benefits to be deposited in the Fund.

SECTION 2. The Department of Transitional Assistance shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement the program set forth in section 1.