The House and Senate are agreeing to devote a whopping $33 million to an emergency food distribution program.
The close-out appears in the latest House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations offer, which showed a number of areas where the chambers have already found common ground.
The massive item is a program facilitated by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure nutritious and high-quality food goes to families requiring public assistance, as well as to distribute and supply both food banks and individuals.
The state works with private partners to distribute the food to Florida families.
The chambers also align on giving $6.5 million to Feeding Florida, a statewide network of food banks. The organization said by bringing those service providers together, it allows the ability to ramp up emergency management relief 300% in times of crisis, such as when a community gets struck by a hurricane or other storm.
"While our food banks are first on the scene with MREs and water, we will also remain until the very end, providing families and individuals with the resources they need while they rebuild their lives," the Feeding Florida website reads.
The House wants to also provide $500,000 through Feeding Florida in produce incentives for rural retailers, while the Senate hasn't set anything aside for that.
Both chambers agreed on sending $6.5 million to the Farm Share Program, but a number of specifics remain different in the House and Senate budget. The House wants to provide an additional $2.7 million in operating expenses for FDACS, while the Senate just has a little more than $1.5 million set aside for that purpose.
The chambers still haven't agreed on a number of issues with individual food providers and programs around the state.
The Senate wants $985,000 for the Florida Green Jobs Youth Initiative, for example, while the House has no money set aside for that purpose.
But both chambers agreed to give upward of $7.8 million to the Citrus Health Response Program.
No comments:
Post a Comment