Bill Text: MI HB5180 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Economic development; other; healthy food assistance act; create. Creates new act.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-12-18 - Printed Bill Filed 12/18/2015 [HB5180 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2015-HB5180-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 5180

December 17, 2015, Introduced by Reps. Pagel, Callton, Sarah Roberts, Singh, Chang, Brett Roberts and Guerra and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

 

     A bill to provide financial and other assistance to certain

 

retailers; to create certain funds; to authorize certain programs

 

to be created, operated, and administered by this state, certain

 

local governmental units, and other entities; to prescribe the

 

powers and duties of certain state and certain local governmental

 

officials; to make an appropriation; and to distribute certain

 

funds.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 1. (1) This act shall be known as the "healthy food

 

assistance act".

 

     (2) The purpose of this act is to do both of the following:

 

     (a) Establish a statewide program to increase the availability

 

of fresh and nutritious food, including fruits and vegetables, in

 

underserved communities by providing financing for retailers to

 

open, renovate, or expand grocery stores.

     (b) Provide funding for county-based programs to provide

 

assistance to small food retailers to increase the availability and

 

sales of fresh and nutritious food, including fresh produce, in

 

low- and moderate-income communities.

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Community development financial institution" means an

 

entity that meets all of the following:

 

     (i) Has previous experience lending to food retailers,

 

producers, and other healthy food enterprises in underserved

 

communities.

 

     (ii) Has been in existence and operating as a public-private

 

partnership prior to January 1, 2015.

 

     (iii) Has the ability to raise matching capital to leverage

 

appropriated funds.

 

     (iv) Has the ability to underwrite loans and grants to

 

grocers, distributors, and other food enterprises.

 

     (v) Has experience partnering with nonprofit food access,

 

health, or community organizations in underserved communities.

 

     (b) "Department" means the Michigan department of agriculture

 

and rural development.

 

     (c) "Financing" means loans, grants, and forgivable loans.

 

     (d) "Grocery store" means a for-profit or not-for-profit self-

 

service retail establishment that primarily sells meat, seafood,

 

fruits, vegetables, dairy products, dry groceries, household

 

products, and sundries.

 

     (e) "Healthy food financing fund" or "fund" means the healthy

 

food financing fund created in section 3.

 

     (f) "Low-income area" means a census tract as reported in the

 

most recently completed decennial census published by the United

 

States Bureau of the Census that has a poverty rate of at least 20%

 

or in which the median family income does not exceed 80% of the

 

greater of the statewide or metropolitan median family income.

 

     (g) "Moderate-income area" means a census tract in which the

 

median family income is between 81% and 95% of the median family

 

income for the area.

 

     (h) "Small food retailer" means a small-scale store, corner

 

store, convenience store, neighborhood store, small grocery,

 

bodega, or other small retail outlet, of under 2,500 square feet,

 

which sells a limited selection of foods and other products.

 

     (i) "Underserved community" means a census tract determined to

 

be an area with low supermarket access by either the United States

 

Department of Agriculture, as identified in the United States

 

Department of Agriculture's Food Access Research Atlas, or through

 

a methodology that has been adopted for use by another governmental

 

or philanthropic healthy food initiative.

 

     Sec. 3. (1) The healthy food financing fund is created within

 

the state treasury.

 

     (2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from

 

any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall

 

direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit

 

to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.

 

     (3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall

 

remain in the fund and shall not lapse to the general fund.

 

     (4) The department shall be the administrator of the fund for

 

auditing purposes.

 

     (5) The department shall expend money from the fund, upon

 

appropriation, for both of the following purposes:

 

     (a) To provide funding for the healthy food financing program

 

created in section 4.

 

     (b) To provide funding for county-based programs to provide

 

assistance to small food retailers to increase the availability and

 

sales of fresh and nutritious food in low- and moderate-income

 

areas as provided in section 5.

 

     Sec. 4. (1) The department shall identify and contract with a

 

community development financial institution to establish and

 

operate the healthy food financing program to provide financing to

 

retailers to construct, rehabilitate, or expand grocery stores in

 

underserved communities in urban and rural low- and moderate-income

 

areas.

 

     (2) The department may contract with 1 or more qualified

 

nonprofit organizations or community development financial

 

institutions to administer this program through a public-private

 

partnership. The community development financial institution under

 

contract with the department shall raise matching funds, promote

 

the program statewide, evaluate applicants, underwrite and disburse

 

grants and loans, and monitor compliance and impact. Not more than

 

15% of the money in the fund shall be used for administrative and

 

operational costs of the community development financial

 

institution to manage the program described in this section, unless

 

those costs are provided for from other budgets or in-kind

 

resources.

 

     (3) The community development financial institution shall

 

create and implement an application process to ensure that financed

 

projects meet eligibility guidelines. Projects shall be located in

 

an underserved community and primarily serve low- or moderate-

 

income areas. Projects eligible for financing include 1 or more of

 

the following:

 

     (a) Construction of new grocery stores.

 

     (b) Grocery store renovations, expansions, and infrastructure

 

upgrades that improve the availability and quality of fresh produce

 

and other healthy foods.

 

     (c) Development and enhancement.

 

     (d) Reduction of costs of local food production.

 

     (e) Aggregation and processing.

 

     (f) Distribution.

 

     (g) Increase of retail outlets.

 

     (h) Analysis and increase of market opportunities.

 

     (4) An applicant for financing may be a for-profit or not-for-

 

profit entity, including, but not limited to, a sole

 

proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company,

 

corporation, cooperative, nonprofit organization, nonprofit

 

community development entity, university, or government entity. An

 

applicant for financing shall do all of the following:

 

     (a) Demonstrate the capacity to successfully implement the

 

project and the likelihood that the project will be economically

 

self-sustaining.

 

     (b) Demonstrate the ability to repay the debt.

 

     (c) Agree, for period of at least 5 years, to comply with all

 

of the following conditions:

 

     (i) To accept supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP)

 

benefits.

 

     (ii) To apply to accept special supplemental nutrition program

 

for women, infants, and children (WIC) benefits and accept WIC

 

benefits, if approved.

 

     (iii) To allocate at least 30% of food retail space for the

 

sale of perishable foods, which may include fresh or frozen dairy,

 

fresh produce, whole grains, fresh meats, poultry, and fish.

 

     (iv) To comply with all data collection and reporting

 

requirements established by the department.

 

     (v) To promote the hiring of local residents.

 

     (5) In determining which qualified projects to finance, the

 

community development financial institution shall consider all of

 

the following:

 

     (a) The level of need in the area to be served.

 

     (b) The degree to which the project requires an investment of

 

public financing to move forward, create impact, or be competitive

 

and the level of need in the area to be served.

 

     (c) The degree to which the project will have a positive

 

economic impact on the underserved community, including by creating

 

or retaining jobs for local residents.

 

     (d) The degree to which the project will participate in state

 

and local health department initiatives to educate consumers on

 

nutrition and promote healthier eating.

 

     (e) Other criteria the community development financial

 

institution determines to be consistent with the purposes of this

 

act.

 

     (6) Financing made available for projects may be used for 1 or

 

more of the following purposes:

 

     (a) Site acquisition and preparation.

 

     (b) Construction and build-out costs.

 

     (c) Equipment and furnishings.

 

     (d) Workforce training or security.

 

     (e) Predevelopment costs such as market studies and

 

appraisals.

 

     (f) Energy efficiency measures.

 

     (g) Working capital for first-time inventory and start-up

 

costs.

 

     Sec. 5. (1) The department shall allocate money in the healthy

 

food financing fund to community development financial institutions

 

for county or regional departments of health or nonprofit

 

organizations to create and operate a program to provide assistance

 

to small food retailers within urban and rural low- and moderate-

 

income areas to increase the sales of fresh produce and other

 

healthy foods.

 

     (2) The community development financial institution shall

 

establish guidelines for eligibility for funding consistent with

 

this section, raise matching funds, promote the availability of the

 

funding statewide, evaluate applicants, and disburse funding. In

 

determining which qualified projects to fund, the department shall

 

consider the level of need in the area to be served. The department

 

shall establish monitoring and accountability mechanisms for

 

programs receiving assistance.

 

     (3) No more than 15% of the amount appropriated for this

 

section shall be reserved for the community development financial

 

institution's administrative and operational costs to allocate the

 

funding and prepare the evaluation, unless those costs are provided

 

for from other budgets or in-kind resources.

 

     (4) The community development financial institution shall

 

create eligibility guidelines consistent with this section and

 

provide funding through an application process. To qualify for

 

funding, the applicant shall do all of the following:

 

     (a) Be a county or regional public health department or a not-

 

for-profit entity.

 

     (b) Be located in low- or moderate-income areas.

 

     (c) Accept or agree to accept as a condition of receiving

 

assistance supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP)

 

benefits.

 

     (d) Agree to apply to accept special supplemental nutrition

 

program for women, infants, and children (WIC) benefits and accept

 

WIC benefits, if eligible.

 

     (e) Agree to abide by the conditions for receiving assistance.

 

     (f) Collect and provide data and other information required by

 

the department for monitoring, accountability, and evaluation

 

purposes.

 

     (g) Provide defined goals, standards, and accountability

 

mechanisms to ensure that expenditure of money under this section

 

is consistent with the purpose of this act, including, but not

 

limited to, all of the following:

 

     (i) Identifying the basis for selecting the particular small

 

food retailers or geographic area for assistance.

 

     (ii) Providing a plan describing specific goals for increasing

 

the sales of produce and other healthy foods by the small food

 

retailers in the targeted area and engaging the community to

 

support the participating small food retail stores and standards to

 

assess whether goals within the plan are met.

 

     (iii) Engaging an advisory group of members of other county or

 

municipal agencies, such as planning or economic development,

 

private or public universities, cooperative extensions, community-

 

based organizations, and community members, to provide expertise

 

and support and to coordinate other efforts to support small food

 

retailers.

 

     (iv) Ensuring that funds are expended for appropriate expenses

 

by requiring that small food retailers sign written agreements as a

 

condition for receiving assistance, monitoring the small food

 

retailers, and enforcing the agreements, if necessary.

 

     (5) Money disbursed under this section may be used for the

 

following purposes:

 

     (a) Salary and associated costs of employees or contractors

 

providing education, advice, or other assistance on food safety and

 

handling, nutrition education, business operations, and promotion

 

to small food retailers.

 

     (b) Refrigeration, display shelving, or other equipment for

 

small food retailers necessary for stocking healthy foods and fresh

 

produce, at a cost of less than $5,000.00 per retailer.

 

     (c) Materials and supplies for nutrition education and healthy

 

food promotion.

 

     (d) Mini-grants to retailers of no more than $100.00 per

 

retailer to meet initial expenses incurred with participating in

 

the program.

 

     Sec. 6. The community development financial institution shall

 

establish monitoring and accountability mechanisms for projects

 

receiving financing and shall report annually to the department on

 

the projects funded, the geographic distribution of the projects,

 

the costs of the program, and the outcomes, including the number

 

and type of jobs created and health impacts associated with the

 

program. The department shall provide the report described in this

 

section to each house of the legislature.

 

     Sec. 7. (1) For the 2015-2016 fiscal year, $6,500,000.00 is

 

appropriated from the general fund to the healthy food financing

 

fund as follows:

 

     (a) Not more than $5,000,000.00 for the healthy food financing

 

program described in section 4.

 

     (b) Not more than $1,000,000.00 for assistance to small food

 

retailers described in section 5.

 

     (2) From the amounts appropriated in subsection (1), the

 

department may utilize up to $500,000.00 to administer this act.