Assembly Bill A9168

                             
                     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:

   Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that  following
 the  enactment of the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research
 Act of 1990, the Economic Research Service (ERS) of  the  United  States
 Department of Agriculture (USDA) began issuing an annual food insecurity
 report. ERS's annual report collects and analyzes data gathered from the
 Census  Bureau  of  the United States Department of Commerce through its
 annual Current Population Survey (CPS)-Food Security  Supplement  (FSS).
 The  annual  FSS survey asks about food security, food spending, and the
 use of federal and community nutrition assistance  programs.  Using  the
 CPS-FSS  data on households in the United States, including in New York,
 ERS has consistently reported on national and state-level household food
 insecurity and provided detailed documentation and data files for public
 use. Nonetheless, as of September 2025, the USDA announced that ERS will
 no longer issue the annual food insecurity report.
   The legislature additionally finds that some New York households expe-
 rience food insecurity at times during the year due to lack of money and
 other resources. According to the Food Insufficiency Data Brief released
 by the NY Health Foundation on March 31, 2025, "The  food  insufficiency
 rate  in New York State is 10.4%, which is higher than it was during the
 early days of the pandemic in 2020 (10.2%)." New York  households  often
 look  to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known
 as "food stamps") when  facing  food  insecurity,  however,  the  latest
 federal  budget  bill (H.R.1) makes deep cuts to SNAP which are expected
 to significantly increase the number of New  Yorkers  experiencing  food
 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
 
 ty  trends is now more important than ever to help the New York legisla-
 ture and other stakeholders better understand  hunger  trends  and  make
 decisions  for investing taxpayer dollars as efficiently and effectively
 as possible.
   §  2. Subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public health law is amended
 by adding a new paragraph (z) to read as follows:
   (Z) INCLUDE AS PART OF THE DEPARTMENT'S ANNUAL  PARTICIPATION  IN  THE
 BEHAVIORAL  RISK  FACTOR  SURVEILLANCE  SYSTEM,  THE U.S. HOUSEHOLD FOOD
 SECURITY SURVEY MODULE: SIX-ITEM SHORT FORM ECONOMIC  RESEARCH  SERVICE,
 DEVELOPED  BY  THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AND PUBLICLY
 REPORT ANNUALLY THE RESULTS OF SUCH SURVEY MODULE  BROKEN  DOWN  TO  THE
 COUNTY LEVEL ON THE PUBLIC WEBSITE OF THE DEPARTMENT.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.