Assembly BillIntroduced
A 8503: Directs the department of agriculture and markets to increase the number of regional farmers' markets for the direct marketing of foods and produce produced in the state.
What A 8503 does, verified January 10, 2026
The bill aims to expand regional farmers' markets in areas with poor consumer access to high-quality and reasonably priced food and farm products. It seeks to promote direct marketing of farm and food products to large volume purchasers. The markets should be located in areas with poor consumer access or cater to retailers and bulk purchasers in these areas. The New York State Department of Agriculture and the New York State Urban Development Corporation will collaborate to achieve this goal. The bill will take effect immediately.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to agriculture (2026-01-07)Alert me
Quick answers about A 8503
- What is the current status of A 8503?
- As of January 10, 2026, A 8503 is recorded as "Introduced": it has been introduced and is waiting for its first committee hearing or floor vote. The last recorded action, on January 7, 2026, was "referred to agriculture".
- Did A 8503 pass?
- Not yet. A 8503 has been introduced and has not passed either house.
- Who wrote A 8503, and where is it now?
- A 8503 was authored by Asm. Demond Meeks. Its committee of record is Assembly Agriculture.
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions2 total · showing 2
| Jan. 07, 2026 | referred to agriculture |
| May. 20, 2025 | referred to agriculture |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, May 20, 2025 · 298 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8503 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. MEEKS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Agriculture AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the expansion of regional farmers' markets The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 284 of the agriculture and markets law is amended 2 by adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows: 3 10. Development and facilitation of the establishment of regional 4 farmers' markets to promote the direct marketing of farm and food 5 products on a wholesale or bulk sales basis to large volume purchasers 6 of farm and food products. Such regional farmers' markets should be, 7 whenever possible, located in areas that have poor consumer access to 8 high quality and reasonably priced food and farm products or food 9 deserts; or which would sell to or cater to the needs of retailers or 10 bulk purchasers of food and farm products that are located in areas that 11 have poor consumer access to high quality and reasonably priced food and 12 farm products or food deserts. The department is authorized to work in 13 cooperation with the New York state urban development corporation and 14 the empire state development corporation for the purposes of this subdi- 15 vision, section sixteen-m of the New York state urban development corpo- 16 ration act and article five-D of the economic development law. 17 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09405-01-5
Text of A 8503 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions