Relates to reporting on food security trends

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9168

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                                  I N  A S S E M B L Y

                                    October 17, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to reporting on  food
          security trends

          THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
        BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that  following
     2  the  enactment of the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research
     3  Act of 1990, the Economic Research Service (ERS) of  the  United  States
     4  Department of Agriculture (USDA) began issuing an annual food insecurity
     5  report. ERS's annual report collects and analyzes data gathered from the
     6  Census  Bureau  of  the United States Department of Commerce through its
     7  annual Current Population Survey (CPS)-Food Security  Supplement  (FSS).
     8  The  annual  FSS survey asks about food security, food spending, and the
     9  use of federal and community nutrition assistance  programs.  Using  the
    10  CPS-FSS  data on households in the United States, including in New York,
    11  ERS has consistently reported on national and state-level household food
    12  insecurity and provided detailed documentation and data files for public
    13  use. Nonetheless, as of September 2025, the USDA announced that ERS will
    14  no longer issue the annual food insecurity report.
    15    The legislature additionally finds that some New York households expe-
    16  rience food insecurity at times during the year due to lack of money and
    17  other resources. According to the Food Insufficiency Data Brief released
    18  by the NY Health Foundation on March 31, 2025, "The  food  insufficiency
    19  rate  in New York State is 10.4%, which is higher than it was during the
    20  early days of the pandemic in 2020 (10.2%)." New York  households  often
    21  look  to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known
    22  as "food stamps") when  facing  food  insecurity,  however,  the  latest
    23  federal  budget  bill (H.R.1) makes deep cuts to SNAP which are expected
    24  to significantly increase the number of New  Yorkers  experiencing  food
    25  insecurity. In light of these circumstances, information on food securi-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13829-03-5
        A. 9168                             2

     1  ty  trends is now more important than ever to help the New York legisla-
     2  ture and other stakeholders better understand  hunger  trends  and  make
     3  decisions  for investing taxpayer dollars as efficiently and effectively
     4  as possible.
     5    §  2. Subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public health law is amended
     6  by adding a new paragraph (z) to read as follows:
     7    (Z) INCLUDE AS PART OF THE DEPARTMENT'S ANNUAL  PARTICIPATION  IN  THE
     8  BEHAVIORAL  RISK  FACTOR  SURVEILLANCE  SYSTEM,  THE U.S. HOUSEHOLD FOOD
     9  SECURITY SURVEY MODULE: SIX-ITEM SHORT FORM ECONOMIC  RESEARCH  SERVICE,
    10  DEVELOPED  BY  THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AND PUBLICLY
    11  REPORT ANNUALLY THE RESULTS OF SUCH SURVEY MODULE  BROKEN  DOWN  TO  THE
    12  COUNTY LEVEL ON THE PUBLIC WEBSITE OF THE DEPARTMENT.
    13    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.