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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Tripp

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/21/08

HB 156

SHORT TITLE Farmers' Market Nutrition Enhancement Program

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$250.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 49

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 156 appropriates $250.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of

New Mexico State University for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to support the

Farmers’ Market Nutrition Enhancement Program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $250.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

The PED states that this request was submitted by NMSU and NMDA to the New Mexico

Higher Education Department for review. The FY09 NMHED Executive recommendation is

continuance of FY08 recurring funding of the Special Projects line item.

House Bill 156 – Page

2

NMDA currently administers the $110,000 recurring funding for the farmers’ market nutrition

Program. The appropriation in House Bill 156 is in addition to the current recurring funding.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMDA states that:

•

This program provides food coupons to low-income and senior citizens to shop at local

farmers’ markets.

•

The current redemption rate for coupons at local farmers’ markets is up to 80%

demonstrating a need by consumers and a benefit to local growers.

•

Forty-eight percent of program participants had never before been to a farmers’ market.

This program allows new consumers to purchase local grown nutritious fruits and

vegetables.

The HED points out that New Mexico's farmers' markets are located in the following cities and

counties: Alamogordo, Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Corrales, Village of Los Ranchos, Questa,

Aztec, Belen/Valencia County, Bloomfield, Carlsbad-Eddy County, Cedar Crest, Chaparral,

Clayton, Clovis, Dixon, Elephant Butte, Espanola, Farmington, Gallup, Grants, Las Cruces, Las

Vegas, Los Alamos, Mesilla, Moriarty, Portales, Ramah, Roswell, San Felipe Pueblo, Santa Fe,

Santa Rosa, Socorro, Sunland Park, Taos, Tierra Amarilla, Tucumcari, and Tularosa.

According to the DOH, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has monitored

household “food insecurity" rates since 1995, issued its 2005 findings for the nation and

individual states. New Mexico is first in the nation in terms of households experiencing “food

insecurity," and ranks second in terms of “very low food security," which was previously defined

by USDA as “food insecurity with hunger." These new rankings represent a fall for New

Mexico in both categories. In 2004, New Mexico ranked #2 for “food insecurity," and #4 for

“very low food security. HB156 complies with the objectives of the 2010 Plan to End Hunger in

New Mexico

The funding would support a pilot program to provide 8,100 low income residents and seniors

with $28.00 to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables at their local farmers’ market. This

pilot would use the infrastructure of the current Commodity Supplemental Food Program to

provide additional fruits and vegetables to seniors already receiving commodities. Promotion

and further expansion of New Mexico’s farmers’ markets would make fresh produce available to

participants of the Commodities Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). The majority of those

participants are seniors. Increased fresh fruit and vegetable intake is one of the key messages

that the Department of Health encourages through the “5- A-Day" and the “Fruits & Veggies –

More Matters" programs to help prevent chronic conditions and diseases such as coronary heart

disease, some cancers, obesity, and osteoporosis.

DUPLICATION

Senate Bill 49 is an exact duplicate of House Bill 156.

GH/mt