HB 1159 2024
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hb1159-00
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to food recovery; amending s. 595.420, 2
F.S.; providing definitions; directing the Department 3
of Agriculture and Consumer Services, subject to 4
legislative appropriation, to implement a pilot 5
program to provide incentives to food recovery food 6
recovery entities to negotiate the price for fresh 7
food products; providing shipping requirements; 8
authorizing food recovery entities to reject certain 9
fresh food products; requiring the department to 10
reimburse food recovery entities for certain costs; 11
providing reimbursement requirements; requiring the 12
department to submit report s to the Governor and 13
Legislature by specified dates and to adopt rules; 14
providing for expiration of the pilot program; 15
providing an appropriation; providing an effective 16
date. 17
18
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 19
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Section 1. Subsection (8) is added to section 595.420, 21
Florida Statutes, to read: 22
595.420 Food recovery; legislative intent; department 23
functions.— 24
(8)(a) As used in this subsection, the term: 25
HB 1159 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
1. "Food producer" means an agricultural company, or their 26
associated shipper, that produces fresh food products in the 27
state. 28
2. "Food recovery e ntity" means a nonprofit association 29
engaged in food recovery and distribution that has at least 20 30
years of operation in the state and has received a minimum of 10 31
million pounds of perishable fresh food products annually for 32
the last 3 years. 33
3. "Fresh food products" means high -quality fresh fruits, 34
vegetables, proteins, and dairy produced by a food producer that 35
are delivered to their final destination for charitable 36
distribution and meet United States Department of Agriculture 37
commodity standards and grades upon such delivery. 38
(b) Subject to legislative appropriation, the department 39
shall implement a pilot program for food recovery entities to 40
negotiate a discounted price for fresh food products so that the 41
fresh food products can be exclusively dist ributed for 42
charitable purposes to relieve human hunger in the state. 43
(c) Food recovery entities must negotiate and pay a 44
discounted price to a food producer for the purchase of food 45
products. The harvest or processing date and the current market 46
price of each fresh food product purchased and the shipment 47
destination must be included by invoice, bill of lading, or 48
other documents from the food producer to the food recovery 49
entity. 50
HB 1159 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
(d) Food recovery entities may reject any fresh food 51
product that does no t meet the quality standards of the food 52
recovery entity. 53
(e) The department shall reimburse a food recovery entity 54
for each negotiated purchase of fresh food products and an 55
additional 2 cents per pound of fresh food products purchased 56
for costs to deliver and distribute the fresh food products for 57
charitable purposes. To receive reimbursement, a food recovery 58
entity must: 59
1. Certify in writing that: 60
a. The fresh food products meet the quality standards of 61
the food recovery entity. 62
b. The purchased fresh food products will not be sold to 63
wholesale, retail, or secondary markets for monetary gain. 64
2. Submit an invoice as prescribed by the department, 65
which includes the following information: 66
a. Shipment date. 67
b. Shipment location by shipper and city. 68
c. Number of packages shipped and the price for each fresh 69
food product. 70
d. Total price paid for each fresh food product. 71
e. Total invoice price paid. 72
f. Total pounds shipped by measured weight or by estimate 73
of the fresh food product. 74
(f) The department shall submit reports on the pilot 75
HB 1159 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
program to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the 76
Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 1, 2025, and 77
by January 1, 2026. The reports must include all of the 78
following: 79
1. Each fresh food product by package size, total number 80
of packages, and average price per package. 81
2. Each fresh food product by total pounds and total 82
average price per pound. 83
3. Total dollars total spent on each fresh food product 84
and total dollars spent on al l fresh food products. 85
(g) The department shall adopt rules to implement this 86
subsection. 87
(h) This subsection expires on January 1, 2026. 88
Section 2. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the sum of $5 89
million in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund is 90
appropriated to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer 91
Services to implement the pilot program under s. 595.420(8), 92
Florida Statutes. 93
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024. 94