A 8508: Requires the commissioner of education mandate schools donate unused food to local food banks and establish policies and procedures to effectuate such program.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8508 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY May 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CHANG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring excess, unused, edible food from meals served at educational facilities be donated to local voluntary food assistance programs The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 56 of section 305 of the education law, as 2 added by chapter 316 of the laws of 2017, is renumbered subdivision 63 3 and is amended to read as follows: 4 63. The commissioner, in consultation and cooperation with the commis- 5 sioner of agriculture and markets, [may] shall develop guidelines to 6 [encourage] mandate school districts and institutions of higher educa- 7 tion to donate excess, unused, edible food from meals served at such 8 educational facilities to local voluntary food assistance programs 9 including, but not limited to, community food pantries, soup kitchens, 10 and other community and not-for-profit organizations that distribute 11 food to the poor and disadvantaged. Such guidelines developed concerning 12 donated food shall comply with all federal, state and local public 13 health laws, rules and regulations that govern food safety and food 14 donation. 15 Such guidelines may include, but not be limited to: 16 a. a procedure to provide information to school districts, insti- 17 tutions of higher education and local voluntary food assistance programs 18 of the provisions of such guidelines; 19 b. notification to educational institutions of their ability to elect 20 to donate excess, unused, edible food to local voluntary food assistance 21 programs; and 22 c. information and technical assistance on how school districts and 23 institutions of higher education may best donate excess food in a safe 24 and sanitary manner. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD11983-01-5 
 A. 8508 2 1 The commissioner shall coordinate the implementation of such guide- 2 lines with the farm-to-school program established pursuant to subdivi- 3 sion five-b of section sixteen of the agriculture and markets law. 4 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 5 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 6 repeal of any rule of regulation necessary for the implementation of 7 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 8 on or before such effective date.