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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2238 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 129 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Bradley H. Jones, Jr. and Hannah Kane |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to the healthy incentives program. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Bradley H. Jones, Jr.20th Middlesex1/15/2025Hannah Kane11th Worcester1/22/2025Kimberly N. Ferguson1st Worcester1/21/2025Paul K. Frost7th Worcester1/31/2025Todd M. Smola1st Hampden3/10/2025Dennis C. Gallagher8th Plymouth1/28/2025James B. EldridgeMiddlesex and Worcester1/28/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2238 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 129 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representatives Jones of North Reading and Kane of Shrewsbury, a petition (accompanied by |
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| 19 | 19 | | bill, House, No. 129) of Bradley H. Jones, Jr., Hannah Kane and others relative to establishing a |
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| 20 | 20 | | healthy incentives program for the purpose of ensuring the needs of SNAP recipients and |
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| 21 | 21 | | farmers. Agriculture. |
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| 22 | 22 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 185 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 24 | 24 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 28 | 28 | | _______________ |
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| 29 | 29 | | An Act relative to the healthy incentives program. |
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| 30 | 30 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 31 | 31 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 32 | 32 | | 1 SECTION 1. The department of transitional assistance and the department of agricultural |
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| 33 | 33 | | 2resources shall jointly select a state-wide organization, which engages with both SNAP |
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| 34 | 34 | | 3recipients and Massachusetts farmers, to conduct a survey regarding the healthy incentives |
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| 35 | 35 | | 4program for the purpose of ensuring that said program is best meeting the needs of both |
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| 36 | 36 | | 5consumers and farmers, and to inform future outreach efforts about the program. The survey |
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| 37 | 37 | | 6shall be distributed to both participants and non participants of the program. |
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| 38 | 38 | | 7 The survey shall collect information about the healthy incentives program from |
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| 39 | 39 | | 8Massachusetts farmers and SNAP recipients, including, but not limited to: 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 9 (i) The knowledge that both participants and non participants have about the healthy |
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| 41 | 41 | | 10incentives program including, but not limited to, the purpose and benefits of the program, and |
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| 42 | 42 | | 11where and how the benefits of the program can be utilized; |
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| 43 | 43 | | 12 (ii) the frequency with which participants utilize the program; |
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| 44 | 44 | | 13 (iii) how and where participants learned about the program; |
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| 45 | 45 | | 14 (iv) any barriers that both participants and non participants experience when trying to |
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| 46 | 46 | | 15utilize the program; |
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| 47 | 47 | | 16 (v) and feedback from both participants and non participants regarding their experiences |
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| 48 | 48 | | 17with the program. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 18 SECTION 2. The commissioners of the Massachusetts department of transitional |
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| 50 | 50 | | 19assistance and the department of agricultural resources shall establish rules and procedures, |
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| 51 | 51 | | 20including deadlines for dissemination and collection of survey information, consistent with the |
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| 52 | 52 | | 21purposes of this act, and shall promote the effective solicitation to achieve the highest practical |
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| 53 | 53 | | 22response rate, collection, and publication of information gathered from the commonwealth’s |
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| 54 | 54 | | 23farmers and SNAP recipients regarding their experiences with and knowledge of the healthy |
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| 55 | 55 | | 24incentive’s program. The commissioners shall ensure that the survey is conducted no later than |
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| 56 | 56 | | 2512 months within the passage of this act. The commissioners shall also ensure that the results of |
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| 57 | 57 | | 26the survey are published on their department’s websites, and submitted to the clerks of the house |
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| 58 | 58 | | 27and senate within 12 months of the passage of this act. |
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