Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Supporting Transportation Organization and Refrigeration Expansion Act of 2023” or “STORE Act of 2023”.
Supporting Transportation Organization and Refrigeration Expansion Act of 2023
A BILL
To address infrastructure needs for food banks serving rural communities and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Improving the EFAP infrastructure grants program
Section 209 of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7511a) is amended—
in subsection (a) by striking “an emergency feeding organization” and inserting “the State agency designated by a State in the State plan required by section 202A (7 U.S.C. 7503)”,
in subsection (b)(2)—
by striking the heading and inserting “Preference”,
by inserting “Tribal, low income, and remote” before “communities”, and
in subparagraph (A) by striking and inserting “rural” with “these”,
in subsection (c)—
by striking “carry out activities of the eligible entity” and inserting “distribute grant amounts to support activities”,
in paragraph (1) by striking “for the tracking of time-sensitive food products” and inserting “needed to safely and efficiently distribute food to people in need”,
in paragraph (2) by striking “time-sensitive and perishable food products” and inserting “commodities provided by the Secretary under this Act and commodities secured from other sources”,
in paragraph (3)—
by striking “through the support of small or mid-size farms and ranches, fisheries, and aquaculture, and donations from local food producers and manufacturers to persons in need”, and
by inserting “, including expanding mobile and home delivery options and assessments or professional studies of outreach activities” after “United States”,
in paragraph (4) by inserting “, governmental, and Tribal” after “nonprofit”, and
in paragraph (5)—
in subparagraph (B) by inserting “, governmental, and Tribal” after “nonprofit”, and
in subparagraph (C)—
by striking “rural areas” and inserting “underserved areas identified in subsection (b)(2)”, and
by striking “and” at the end,
in paragraph (6)—
by striking “constructing” and inserting “renovating”, and
by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”, and
by adding at the end the following:
“(7) not more than 4 percent of such grant for administrative costs to carry this section.”
in subsection (d) by striking “$15,000,000” and all that follows through “2023”, and inserting “$25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028”.
Sec. 3 Report on cold storage needs nationally
Report— Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall carry out a study and produce a report—
on the shortages to meet the total emergency food needs for refrigerated and frozen storage space, as well as refrigerated trucks and other delivery vehicles, for use by emergency food organizations to meet the needs of their communities, and
an estimate of the cost to meet the needs of all emergency food organizations, including food banks and food pantries, nationally for new coolers, freezers, refrigerated and dry trucks, and trailers.
Definitions— In this section—
Emergency food organization— The term “emergency food organization” has the meaning given it in section 2 of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501) and is not otherwise limited to relevant organizations participating in the emergency food assistance program under such Act.
Shortages— The term “shortages” means meeting the total emergency food needs of the community, group, school, network, region, town, city, state, or otherwise relevant area an emergency feeding organization serves.
Appropriations— There is appropriated, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $1,000,000, to remain available until expended, to carry out this section.