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| SPONSOR: | Stell | DATE TYPED: | 02/20/01 | HB | HJM 34 | ||
| SHORT TITLE: | Use NM Agricultural Products for School Meals | SB | |||||
| ANALYST: | Moran | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY01 | FY02 | FY01 | FY02 | ||
|
No Fiscal Impact | |||||
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
State Department of Education
Department of Agriculture
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
HJM 34 asks the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the State Department of Education(SDE) to collaborate on increasing the use of New Mexico agricultural products in preparation of school meals in the public schools.
Significant Issues
According to the SDE, The New Mexico Community Development and Commodities Section distributes allocated USDA agricultural products to public schools, based on student participation. The USDA determines the dollar amount of commodity items to be received for the state of New Mexico and the school districts choose the commodity items to be used. The SDE contends that changing USDA federal purchasing requirements to benefit the New Mexico farmers would require policy changes. In response, the DOA is seeking federal funding to implement a project which addresses the sale of New Mexico agricultural product to public schools.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
HJM 34 contains no appropriations. Both the SDE and the DOA agree, however, that this effort will require administrative manpower necessary to evaluate the procedures needed to implement this policy. There is an obvious and potential fiscal benefit to New Mexico farmers, as well as a chance that individual school districts could reduce the costs associated with purchasing food for school meals through working with local farmers.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
There is no request for a report of the effort to a legislative committee or a time line by when the policy must be completed.
RJM/ar