Honey / 2 Senator Carlson

S.B. _____

A BILL
To reduce domestic hunger by offering incentives to states that donate the sustainable leftover food from grocery
stores and restaurants that would otherwise be disposed of to federal food bank agencies.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Hunger Reduction Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) In 2014, 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households including 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million
children.
2) Poor nutrition causes nearly half of deaths in children under five.
3) Food insecurity exists in every county in America, ranging from a low of 4 percent in Slope County, ND to a high
of 33 percent in Humphreys County, MS.
4) Malnutrition not only impacts growth in the short term, but can also limit total bone growth.
5) Long periods of malnutrition can lead to infertility and osteoporosis.
6) Fifteen percent of Americas seniors (roughly 9.6 million people) faced the threat of hunger.
7) People suffering from starvation often experience organ damage and brain swelling, which in some cases can lead
to coma and eventual death.
8) Every year the United States throws away 133 million pounds of food which is of food produced.
9) The average American consumer wastes 10 times as much food as someone in Southeast Asia, up 50 percent from
Americans in the 1970s.
10) Food is the largest single source of waste in the United States.
11) Grocery stores like Safeway, Luckys, and Trader Joes are responsible for ten percent of the total food waste.
12) Grocery stores and restaurants serve up more than 400 million pounds of food each year, but nearly a third of it
never makes it to a stomach.
13) Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or
below the Federal poverty line, households with children headed by single women or single men, and Black and
Hispanic households.
14) Poor nutrition results in lower core strength, slower problem solving ability and muscle response time, and less
alertness.
15) Americans throw out the equivalent of 165 billion dollars each year on food that is never consumed.
16) Almost all of the food that goes ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S.
methane emissions.
17) Methane traps infrared heat in the atmosphere, raising the global climate.
18) A possible effect of global warming is the higher frequency of droughts and floods occurring worldwide.
19) Methane is 20 to 25 percent stronger a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
20) Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches by the end of the century due to climate change.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Hunger Reduction Act will ensure excess non-perishable food still viable for consumption will be donated to
food banks in cities with a population of over 50,000 people. The shipments the food banks will receive will be
comprised of non-perishable items from all restaurants and grocery stores in their respective cities. All restaurants
and grocery stores will be required to donate eighty-five percent of their unused food.
B) The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will be responsible for inspecting the quality of each food
shipment, ensuring each respective food bank receives its goods, and that each state following this bill receives the
promised incentive. Funding for this project will be removed from the federal defense budget.
C) States who follow this bill will receive a fifteen percent increase in education funding. The Hunger Reduction Act
of 2015 shall be enacted on January 1, 2016. This bill is to be renewed every 10 years.