TITLE: Relating to a study by the Health and Human Services Commission on access to healthy foods.

SUMMARY: Relating to a study by the Health and Human Services Commission on access to healthy foods.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to a study by the Health and Human Services Commission on access to healthy foods. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. (a) The Health and Human Services Commission shall conduct a study on access to healthy foods in this state. The commission may establish a work group to assist in conducting the study. The work group may include representatives from other state agencies, institutions of higher education, local governmental entities, food councils, and other groups working to address food access issues. (b) The study conducted under Subsection (a) of this section must include: (1) an overview of access to healthy foods in this state, including a breakdown of access to healthy foods by: (A) urban areas; (B) rural areas; and (C) other geographic categories in this state; (2) an overview of current programs related to increasing access to healthy foods; (3) an identification of best practices and successful policies for increasing access to healthy foods and recommendations for expanding those practices and policies in both urban and rural areas; (4) an examination of how economic, health, housing, or transportation circumstances affect a person's or community's access to healthy foods; (5) an examination of food-purchasing practices, including: (A) the relation between where a person lives and where that persons shops for food; (B) the relation between where a person works and where that person shops for food; (C) the extent to which geographical distance from a retail food store factors into a person's decision to shop at that retail food store; (D) the factors a person considers when choosing to shop at a retail food store, including: (i) the price of food; (ii) the quality of food; (iii) the type of food; (iv) the convenience of shopping at the retail food store; and (v) any societal or communal factors; (E) the price a person is willing to pay for food in relation to its convenience, including the price a person is willing to pay for food delivery services to avoid traffic or save time; (F) the relationship between household income and food-purchasing practices; (G) the preferred methods that people use to travel to retail food stores, including a breakdown by county; and (H) other factors, such as environment, culture, and income, that affect food-purchasing practices; and (6) an evaluation of the benefits of implementing an online purchasing program for persons participating in the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program operated under 7 U.S.C. Section 2011 et seq. and how an online purchasing program will impact those persons. (c) Not later than January 1, 2019, the Health and Human Services Commission shall submit a written report to the legislature with the results of the study required under Subsection (a) of this section and recommendations for improving access to healthy foods based on the findings of that study. (d) This section expires September 1, 2019. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.