The Congress is working to reauthorize the Farm Bill in 2023.  FBNN is working with our delegation to ensure the next Farm Bill increases investments in The Emergency Food Assistance Program. TEFAP provides our nation’s emergency hunger-relief organizations with food to help serve community members in need.

Congress must prioritize the people and families we see on the frontlines of the hunger crisis every day. Those individuals include working parents who need food banks to supplement the food their children receive from schools, particularly in the summer; seniors who rely on food banks to get enough to eat and stay healthy; families facing medical emergencies who are turning to food banks so they can keep the lights on; and all of those continuing to battle the economic and health challenges brought about by the pandemic.

The Farm Bill is essential to the federal government’s responsibility to grow our economy, strengthen the food supply chain, and serve diverse communities across the nation. Its success is measured by the people and families it assists.

Congress should protect SNAP's structure and funding and strengthen SNAP by adopting the provisions contained in the following bills:

• H.R. 4077-S. 2192 (Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2021)
  • Base SNAP benefit allotments on the more adequate Low-Cost Food Plan
  • Boost the SNAP minimum monthly benefit which is currently only $20.
• H.R. 1919/S. 2515 (Enhance Access to SNAP Act of 2021)
  • Level SNAP Access for low-income college students
• H.R. 5227 (Lift the Bar Act of 2021)
  • Align federal assistance programs with eligibility standards of Affordable Care Act, allowing all lawfully present immigrants to access federal programs without discriminatory bars or waiting periods.

• Standardize food donation guidelines to allow the donation of safe wholesome food regardless of the “sell-by” date.
• Support innovative food rescue programs that help offset the cost to harvest, pack, and transport rescued food.

• Increase the reach of, and the benefits provided through, the summer meals programs.
• Improve area eligibility requirements so that more communities are able to provide summer and afterschool meals.
• Build upon the success of the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program, and provide Summer EBT benefit to children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals when schools are closed.
• Provide the opportunity to reach children through alternative delivery models that proved to be critical during the pandemic.

Update:  The Home Feeds Nevada program is now live, and the first round of contacts have been approved!

• SB 370: Creates the Home Feeds Nevada Program designed to connect Nevada-produced agricultural products to Nevada’s two food banks.
• AB 138: Repeals the drug felon ban for SNAP and TANF

• SB 323: Establish a workfare program in for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in accordance with the requirements set forth in federal guidelines to allow a person to meet the eligibility requirements by participating in such a program. The workfare program must provide that participant will receive benefits at a rate equivalent to the state minimum wage.
• SB 443: Increases the reimbursement rates for senior meals offered through programs run though Nevada’s Aging and Disability Services Division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

• SB 503: Breakfast after the bell – Bill requires schools to offer breakfast to students after the beginning of the school day.