HBA-BSM H.B. 1086 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1086 By: Solis, Jim Agriculture & Livestock 7/25/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Many low-income people in the state rely on assistance from organizations such as the Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks (TASHFB) to supply food to them when their resources run low. Organizations such as TASHFB rely heavily on the private sector for assistance to their operations. House Bill 1086 requires the Department of Agriculture to develop a program to award funds to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of collecting and distributing surplus agricultural products to food banks and other charitable organizations. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Department of Agriculture in SECTION 1 (Section 20.001, Agriculture Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 1086 amends the Agriculture Code to require the Department of Agriculture (department) by rule to develop a program to award grants to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of collecting and distributing surplus agricultural products to food banks and other charitable organizations that serve needy or low-income individuals. A nonprofit organization is authorized to receive such grants if the organization has five years of experience coordinating a statewide network of food banks and charitable organizations that serve each county of this state, operates a program that coordinates the collection and transportation of surplus agricultural products to a statewide network of food banks, and submits to the department a proposal for the collection and distribution of surplus agricultural products to food banks or other charitable organizations. The bill provides that a nonprofit organization that receives a grant for the distribution of surplus agricultural products must report the results of the project to the department. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.