§7517 The Gus Schumacher nutrition incentive program

Summary

Creates a grant program to help low-income people buy more fruits and vegetables by giving incentives at the time they buy food. Eligible entities are government agencies or nonprofits. An emergency feeding organization is defined elsewhere (section 7501). The supplemental nutrition assistance program means SNAP under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and the programs under section 19 of that Act. A healthcare partner is a health care provider, such as a hospital, a Federally Qualified Health Center, a VA hospital or clinic, or a health care provider group. A member is a person who is eligible for SNAP or for Medicaid under a State plan and who is in a low-income household with or at risk of a diet-related health problem. The Secretary must make grants to eligible entities in the years called for under the program. Grants can be given to or shared with many partners, like emergency feeding groups, farmers’ markets, grocery stores that take SNAP, state or local agencies, producer groups, community health groups, and others. Federal funding generally may cover up to 50 percent of a project’s cost. Non-Federal matching funds can be cash or in-kind, but for-profit partners cannot count employee time or employer-paid salaries as the match. Projects must have SNAP State agency support, must increase fruit and vegetable purchases by people using SNAP by giving incentives at the point of purchase, and—unless the project gets $100,000 or less in one year—must measure fruit and vegetable purchases. The Secretary will give priority to projects that use most money for direct incentives, reach underserved communities, use direct-to-consumer sales, work with local farmers, let incentives be used only for fruits and vegetables, coordinate with many partners, and offer extra services like online ordering and delivery. A separate produce-prescription part of the program must be run with health care partners. Eligible entities in that part must prescribe fresh fruits and vegetables to members, apply with plans for screening, education, evaluation, and partnerships (including a plan to work with a State Medicaid agency to study health and cost effects), and may give incentives or set up more places to get fresh produce. The Secretary must set up Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Centers to help grantees, collect standard data, and publish annual reports starting in fiscal year 2020 on project results and spending. Benefits from these grants count as supplemental nutrition benefits under section 8(b) of the Food and Nutrition Act. States must not collect State or local tax on purchases made with this assistance. Grants cannot be used to limit SNAP or other Federal nutrition benefits, and this extra assistance is not part of a household’s SNAP benefits and cannot be used to collect SNAP claims. Money: $5,000,000 is authorized for each fiscal year 2014 through 2023. From the Commodity Credit Corporation the Secretary must use $35,000,000 for fiscal years 2014 and 2015; $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 and 2017; $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2018; $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2019; $48,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; $48,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; $53,000,000 for fiscal year 2022; and $56,000,000 for fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year after. For fiscal years 2019 through 2023, no more than 10 percent of those funds can be used each year for the produce prescription program, no more than 8 percent each year can be used by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Food and Nutrition Service for administration, and the Centers may receive up to $17,000,000 in the aggregate for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 and $7,000,000 for each fiscal year 2021 through 2023.