FISCAL NOTE
FISCAL NOTE
2025 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2833
By Delegates Young and Hamilton
[Introduced February 24, 2025; referred to the Committee on Education then Finance]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §18B-22-1, §18B-22-2, and §18B-22-3, relating to creating the Hunger Free Campus Act; providing for a short title; enacting the act and providing for a legislative purpose; providing qualifications for campuses to be designated as "Hunger-Free" zones; giving a reporting requirement; appropriating money; and providing for an effective date.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
## ARTICLE 21. hunger free campus act.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Hunger-Free Campus Act."
The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission shall establish a Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program. The purpose of the program is to provide grants to public institutions of higher education that have one or more campuses that are designated by the commission as hunger-free campuses. The purpose of the program is to:
(a) Address student hunger;
(b) Leverage more sustainable solutions to address basic food needs on campus;
(c) Raise awareness of services currently offered on campus which address basic food needs; and
(d) Continue to build strategic partnerships at the local, state, and national levels to address food insecurity among students.
In order to be designated as a hunger-free campus, the institution shall:
(a) Establish a Campus Hunger Task Force that meets a minimum of three times per academic year;
(b) Designate a staff member responsible for assisting students with enrollment in West Virginia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
(c) Provide options for students to utilize SNAP and ensure campus stores can accept SNAP benefits at campus stores that meet the federal standards set by the Food and Nutrition Service in the United States Department of Agriculture;
(d) Provide at least one physical food pantry on campus, or enable students to receive food through a designated arrangement;
(e) Develop a student meal credit sharing program, or designate a certain amount of funds for free meal vouchers that might otherwise be raised through a credit sharing program.
The commission shall allocate grant funding to each public institution of higher education that has one or more campuses designated by the commission as a hunger-free campus in accordance with the criteria established pursuant to this article. The commission shall determine the amount of each grant which shall be used by the institution to further address food insecurity among students enrolled in the institution.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the "Hunger-Free Campus Act," which requires the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission to establish a grant program to address food insecurity among students enrolled in public institutions of higher education and appropriates $1 million.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.