HP0829, LD 1185, item 1, An Act To Enhance Efforts To Use Locally Produced Food in Schools

An Act To Enhance Efforts To Use Locally Produced Food in Schools

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §6663 is enacted to read:

§ 6663. Locally produced food in school meal programs

1. Data collection; website. A school administrative unit shall annually determine the percentage of food purchased for use in its elementary school and secondary school meal programs that is grown, raised or caught in the State. In addition, the school administrative unit shall annually determine the percentage of dairy products purchased for use in its elementary school and secondary school meal programs that is produced in the State.

The school administrative unit shall annually report the data collected under this subsection to the department. The department shall make the data reported pursuant to this subsection available to the public within 30 days of the reporting deadline established by rule of the department.

Within 45 days of the reporting deadline, the department shall publish on its publicly accessible website a list of the school administrative units that are meeting the benchmarks established under this subsection.

A. A school administrative unit in which at least 30% of the food used in its elementary school and secondary school meal programs is grown, raised or caught in the State must be designated on the website as a "Gold Medal Eat Local School."

B. A school administrative unit in which at least 20% but less than 30% of the food used in its elementary school and secondary school meal programs is grown, raised or caught in the State must be designated on the website as a "Silver Medal Eat Local School."

C. A school administrative unit in which at least 10% but less than 20% of the food used in its elementary school and secondary school meal programs is grown, raised or caught in State must be designated on the website as a "Bronze Medal Eat Local School."

2. Rules. The department shall adopt routine technical rules in accordance with Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A to implement the provisions of this section. The rules must at a minimum:

A. Establish a schedule and protocol for the reporting and collection of data from school administrative units;

B. Provide a method for school administrative units to submit data;

C. Create a uniform procedure for reporting of the collected data to the public; and

D. Beginning in 2016 and every 3 years thereafter, establish new benchmarks for the gold, silver and bronze designations under subsection 1.

SUMMARY

This bill requires a school administrative unit to report on its use of local foods in its school meal programs. It requires the Department of Education to make the reporting available to the public and to publish a list of schools that meet benchmarks for increasing the use of local foods. It also requires the Department of Education to establish rules to implement the provisions.

HP0829 LD 1185	Session - 126th Maine Legislature		LR 1353 Item 1
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