[DOCID: f:sr338.110]
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110th Congress
SENATE
Report
2nd Session 110-338
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 748
FEDERAL FOOD DONATION ACT OF 2008
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R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 2420
TO ENCOURAGE THE DONATION OF EXCESS FOOD TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
THAT PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO FOOD-INSECURE PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES IN
CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY EXECUTIVE AGENCIES FOR THE PROVISION,
SERVICE, OR SALE OF FOOD
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
May 22, 2008.--Ordered to be printed
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri JOHN WARNER, Virginia
JON TESTER, Montana JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Kevin J. Landy, Chief Counsel
Troy H. Cribb, Counsel
Nora K. Adkins, GAO Detailee
Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Richard A. Beutel, Minority Senior Counsel
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 748
110th Congress
SENATE
Report
2nd Session 110-338
======================================================================
FEDERAL FOOD DONATION ACT OF 2008
_______
May 22, 2008.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Lieberman, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 2420]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2420) to encourage
the donation of excess food to nonprofit organizations that
provide assistance to food-insecure people in the United States
in contracts entered into by executive agencies for the
provision, service, or sale of food, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and
recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................5
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................5
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
The purpose of S. 2420 is to encourage federal agencies and
their contractors to donate excess food to nonprofit
organizations serving the needy. The bill requires federal
contracts above $25,000 for the provision of food, or for the
lease or rental of federal property to a private entity for
events at which food is provided, to include a clause that
encourages--but does not require--the donation of excess food
to nonprofit organizations.
As reported, the bill would also extend to the government
and the contractor, when donating food, the same civil or
criminal liability protection provided to donors of food under
the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996.\1\
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\1\42 U.S.C. 1791(b).
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II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION
Research from the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has found that more than one-quarter of all the food
produced for human consumption in America is currently
discarded.\2\ At the same time this waste is occurring, 11
percent (12.6 million households) of U.S. households are food
insecure.\3\ These households, at some time during the year,
had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due
to a lack of resources.\4\ About a third of these food-insecure
households (4.4 million, or 3.9 percent of all U.S. households)
were food insecure to the extent that one or more household
members were hungry, at least some time during the year,
because they could not afford enough food.\5\ The Committee
believes that one way to address hunger is to encourage federal
agencies and their contractors to donate excess foods to
nonprofit organizations serving the needy.
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\2\United States Department of Agriculture, Waste Not, Want Not,
October, 2001. Can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/
reduce/wast_not.pdf.
\3\United States Department of Agriculture, Household Food Security
in the United States, 2005. Can be found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/
publications/err29/err29.pdf.
\4\Id.
\5\Id.
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Nonprofits in the business of food rescue serve millions of
people. City Harvest, in New York City, for example, picks up
excess food from places such as restaurants, groceries,
manufacturers, wholesalers, and greenmarkets, and delivers the
food to soup kitchens, food pantries, day care and senior
citizen centers, homeless shelters and other places that serve
those in need. In fiscal year 2008, City Harvest rescued
approximately 20 million pounds of excess, nutritious food.\6\
Rock and Wrap it Up!, a national food rescue organization
headquartered in New York and supporter of this legislation,
collects leftover food from professional sporting events and
concerts. Last year they collected approximately 350,000 pounds
of food for a total of one million meals.\7\ These
organizations, though, find it difficult to keep up with
demand.
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\6\City Harvest Inc., About Us. Can be found at http://
www.cityharvest.org/home.aspx?catid=0&pg=1.
\7\Rock and Wrap it Up!. Can be found at http://
www.rockandwrapitup.org/index/.
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According to a new report released by the U.S. Conference
of Mayors on December 17, 2007, request for emergency food
assistance from food pantries, emergency kitchens and home-
delivered meal programs increased an average of 10 percent over
the last year.\8\ At the same time food costs are increasing. A
recent Congressional Research report found U.S. food prices
rose 4% in 2007 and are expected to increase by 3.5% to 4.5% in
2008.\9\ America's food banks are straining to meet their needs
with the increase in both food requests and food costs. For
example, a December 8, 2007 Washington Post article reported
that the Capitol Area Food Bank, the emergency food system for
Washington D.C., had only 230,000 pounds of food on its
shelves, down from 570,000 pounds at this time last year.\10\
Overall this year, the Capitol Area Food Bank is projecting
totals to fall roughly 6 percent below last year's total of
19.5 million pounds. America's Second Harvest, the country's
leading hunger-relief charity, issued an urgent call for
support on Thanksgiving Day 2007, projecting an immediate food
shortage of 15 million pounds--the equivalent of more than 400
truckloads or 11.7 million meals--by the end of the year.\11\
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\8\The United States Conference of Mayors, Hunger and Homelessness
Survey, at 4-6. Can be found at http://usmayors.org/HHSurvey2007/
hhsurvey07.pdf.
\9\CRS Report, Food Price Inflation: Causes and Impacts, April 10,
2008. Can be found at http://www.congress.gov/erp/rs/pdf/RS22859.pdf.
\10\The Washington Post, Cupboards are Bare at Food Banks, page
A01. Can be found at http://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/documents/
documents/cupboardsarebare.pdf.
\11\American's Second Harvest, Nation Responds, But Shortage Still
Critical At Food Banks Around The Country, December 17, 2007. Can be
found at http://www.secondharvest.org/news_room/2007_press_releases/
121707.html.
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Nationally the value of USDA commodities provided by the
Emergency Food Assistance Program has dropped from $242 million
in Fiscal Year 2003 to only $58 million in the last Fiscal
Year. With the increase in demand--as high as 20 percent among
food banks and food rescue organizations--and the national
shortage of donated food, the Committee believes it is
appropriate to encourage federal agencies and their contractors
to donate excess food to nonprofit organizations serving the
needy.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 2420 was introduced by Senator Charles E. Schumer and
was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs on December 6, 2007. S. 2420 was
cosponsored by Senator Lugar, Senator Menendez, Senator
Collins, Senator Voinovich, Senator Crapo, and Senator Durbin.
Its companion bill H.R. 4220 was introduced on November 15,
2007, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a
markup to consider H.R. 4220 on December 12, 2007, and ordered
the bill to be reported by voice vote as amended. On December
17, 2007, the House passed by voice vote H.R. 4220 under
suspension of the rules. On December 18, 2007, H.R. 4220 was
received in the Senate. It was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on
January 22, 2008.
S. 2420 was reported favorably by the Committee by voice
vote on April 10, 2008 as amended by the Lieberman-Collins
substitute. The substitute amendment: clarifies that both the
government and contractor, when donating food, will be covered
by the liability protections extended to donors of food under
the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996;
specifies that the contract clause required by the bill applies
only to contracts to be performed within the United States; and
strikes a section of the bill creating a food security
coordinator at the United States Department of Agriculture.
Members present for the vote on the bill as amended were
Senators Lieberman, Levin, Akaka, Carper, Landrieu, McCaskill,
Tester, Collins, Voinovich, and Sununu.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short Title
Section 1 designates the name of the act as the ``Federal
Food Donation Act of 2008.''
Section 2. Purpose
Section 2 describes the purpose of the act as encouraging
executive agencies and contractors of executive agencies, to
the maximum extent practicable and safe, to donate excess,
apparently wholesome food to feed food-insecure people in the
United States.
Section 3. Definitions
Section 3 defines the following terms for purposes of the
act: ``apparently wholesome food,'' ``excess,'' ``food-
insecure,'' and ``nonprofit organization.''
``Apparently wholesome food'' has the meaning given to the
term in section 2(b) of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 1791(b)), which defines apparently
wholesome food as food that meets all quality and labeling
standards imposed by Federal, State, and local laws and
regulations even though the food may not be readily marketable
due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or
other conditions.
``Food-Insecure'' is defined as inconsistent access to
sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.
Section 4. Promoting Federal Food Donation
Subsection (a) requires that the Federal Acquisition
Regulation, as issued in accordance with section 25 of the
Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 421), be revised to
provide that all contracts above $25,000 for the provision,
services, or sale of food in the United States, or for the
lease or rental of Federal property to a private entity for
events at which food is provided in the United States, shall
include a clause that encourages the donation of excess,
apparently wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that
provide assistance to food-insecure people.
Subsection (b) requires, for cases in which a contractor
enters into a contract with an executive agency under which
apparently wholesome food is donated to food-insecure people in
the United States, that the head of the executive agency shall
not assume responsibility for the costs and logistics of
collecting, transporting, maintaining the safety of, or
distributing excess, apparently wholesome food to food-insecure
people in the United States.
Subsection (c) specifies that an executive agency
(including an agency that enters into a contract with a
contractor) and any contractor making donations pursuant to
this Act shall be exempt from civil and criminal liability to
the extent provided under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 1791) (``Bill Emerson Act''). The Bill
Emerson Act already exempts persons from civil or criminal
liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition
of apparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery
product that the person donates in good faith to a nonprofit
organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.
The effect of subsection (c) is to make clear that both the
government and the contractor would benefit from this liability
protection. (The Bill Emerson Act also separately provides the
same liability protection for nonprofit organizations receiving
such donations in good faith for distribution to needy
individuals.)
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill. The
Congressional Budget Office states that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandate Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of
state, local, and tribal governments. The enactment of this
legislation will not have significant regulatory impact.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
April 11, 2008.
Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2420, the Federal
Food Donation Act of 2008.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Peter R. Orszag.
Enclosure.
S. 2420--Federal Food Donation Act of 2008
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2420 would have no
significant impact on the federal budget, and would not affect
direct spending or revenues. S. 2420 contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets
of state, local, and tribal governments.
S. 2420 would amend Federal Acquisition Regulations to
require a clause in food services contracts of over $25,000 to
encourage donation of any excess food. Under the legislation,
federal agencies would not be responsible for the costs of
transporting or collecting any donated food. In addition,
agencies and contractors would be protected from any civil or
criminal liabilities arising from such donations.
On December 17, 2007, CBO provided a cost estimate for H.R.
4220, the Federal Food Donation Act of 2007, as ordered
reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform on December 12, 2007. The two pieces of legislation are
similar, and the CBO cost estimates are identical.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine,
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
No changes to existing law are made by S. 2420, as
reported.
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