Bill Text: NY A09721 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes the sanitary retail food store grant program to provide funding to retail food stores that fail inspections to correct deficiencies if such stores are unable to sustain the costs to immediately correct critical deficiencies, are located in food deserts, and would otherwise be unable to stay in operation due to their inability to meet and maintain sanitary standards.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-28 - referred to agriculture [A09721 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A09721-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9721

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 28, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Agriculture

        AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation  to  estab-
          lishing the sanitary retail food store grant program

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a  new
     2  section 501 to read as follows:
     3    §  501.  Sanitary  retail  food  store  grant  program. 1. Legislative
     4  intent.  The legislature hereby finds,  determines,  and  declares  that
     5  retail  food  stores located in New York should maintain proper sanitary
     6  conditions to ensure the health and safety of  all  patrons.  Preserving
     7  stores  that  are  unable  to  meet  proper sanitary conditions, and are
     8  located in areas where low-income people have limited access to afforda-
     9  ble and nutritious food, is in the best interest  of  those  communities
    10  and  the  state. The legislature hereby declares that in order to ensure
    11  the health and safety of its citizens, and preserve retail  food  stores
    12  located  in  food deserts, the department shall create a sanitary retail
    13  food store grant program.
    14    2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following  terms
    15  shall have the following meanings:
    16    (a)  "Critical  deficiencies" means factors that are leading causes of
    17  foodborne illnesses, including but not limited to the following:
    18    (i) insect, rodent, bird, or vermin activity likely to result in prod-
    19  uct contamination;
    20    (ii) contact surfaces are unclean or not properly sanitized,  such  as
    21  food contact equipment, utensils, or conveyances for potentially hazard-
    22  ous foods;
    23    (iii)  employee  handwashing  facilities inadequate for establishments
    24  handling exposed foods;
    25    (iv) equipment cleaning or sanitizing facilities inadequate for estab-
    26  lishments handling potentially hazardous foods; and
    27    (v) potentially hazardous foods are not stored at safe temperatures.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13099-03-1
        A. 9721                             2

     1    (b) "Food desert" shall mean an area with limited access to affordable
     2  and nutritious food, particularly such  an  area  that  is  composed  of
     3  predominately lower-income neighborhoods and communities.
     4    3. Sanitary retail food store grant program. Subject to the availabil-
     5  ity  of  funds,  the commissioner shall establish a sanitary retail food
     6  store grant program to ensure that retail food stores that are unable to
     7  sustain the costs to  immediately  correct  critical  deficiencies,  are
     8  located in food deserts, and would otherwise be unable to stay in opera-
     9  tion due to their inability to meet and maintain sanitary standards, may
    10  be  awarded funds to correct such critical deficiencies to ensure commu-
    11  nities with limited food sources are held harmless and  have  access  to
    12  retail food stores with proper sanitary conditions.
    13    4.  Eligibility.  To be eligible to receive sanitary retail food store
    14  grant program funding, retail  food  stores  shall  meet  the  following
    15  criteria:
    16    (a)  found to have critical deficiencies that were not or could not be
    17  corrected at the time  of  inspection  creating  a  need  for  immediate
    18  corrective action or fails for two consecutive inspections;
    19    (b)  located  in  a  food desert whereby closing the retail food store
    20  would have a substantial impact on the community it serves;
    21    (c) the retail food store is able to establish that it does  not  have
    22  adequate  funding or resources to correct the critical deficiencies, nor
    23  would it be able to attain such funding within a  reasonable  amount  of
    24  time to prevent a negative impact to the community;
    25    (d)  the  retail  food store is able to establish that it is unable to
    26  attain credit or loan for all or part of the costs needed to correct the
    27  critical deficiencies; and
    28    (e) the retail food store supplies the community with  affordable  and
    29  nutritious  food,  such as fresh produce, canned goods, and refrigerated
    30  foods.
    31    5. Grants. The commissioner shall make grants to  retail  food  stores
    32  located  in food deserts and meet all eligibility criteria that submit a
    33  plan to correct the critical deficiencies and maintain proper sanitation
    34  for at least five years. The grant shall  be  based  on  the  scope  and
    35  nature  of  the  resources associated with correcting the critical defi-
    36  ciencies and the long-term maintenance of  the  correction  of  critical
    37  deficiencies.  Grants shall be approved and released every six months in
    38  order  to provide retail food stores with certainty on when they will be
    39  able to attain funding and resources to correct the  critical  deficien-
    40  cies and failed inspections.
    41    §  2. Subdivision 4 of section 500 of the agriculture and markets law,
    42  as amended by section 8 of part I1 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is
    43  amended to read as follows:
    44    4. (a) The department shall inspect each retail food  store  at  least
    45  once  in every twelve month period. Any store that fails two consecutive
    46  inspections shall be inspected at least once in every six  month  period
    47  until  [it  has  passed] no critical deficiencies were found or critical
    48  deficiencies were found but remedied at the time of the  inspection  for
    49  two  consecutive  inspections. In the event that a retail food store was
    50  found to have critical deficiencies  that  were  not  or  could  not  be
    51  corrected  creating  a need for immediate corrective action or fails for
    52  three consecutive inspections, the department [may, in its  discretion,]
    53  shall  order  such  establishment to cease all retail operation until it
    54  passes inspection or suspend or revoke any license issued to such estab-
    55  lishment pursuant to article twenty-C  of  this  chapter.  However,  the
    56  department  may, in its discretion allow such establishments to maintain
        A. 9721                             3

     1  operation even if they would otherwise need to cease operation  if  they
     2  are  able  to establish that they qualified for the sanitary retail food
     3  store grant program, described in section five hundred one of this arti-
     4  cle,  and  would otherwise be able to remedy their critical deficiencies
     5  but were not awarded a grant in that calendar year due to exhaustion  of
     6  funds for the grant program.
     7    (b)  For  the  purposes  of  this subdivision, "critical deficiencies"
     8  means the same as such term is defined in section five  hundred  one  of
     9  this article.
    10    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    11  it shall have become a law.