BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A state Legislature proposal that sponsors have named the "Good Food bill" would amend New York's procurement rules, allowing local governments to award food distributor contracts that encourage values like buying local, environmental sustainability and racial equity, even if the distributor hasn't made the lowest responsible bid.
Senate sponsor Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, said allowing them to choose bids up to 10% more allows governments to support New York farms and farmers.
"It keeps our tax dollars circular in New York state's economy. It bolsters rural communities and it makes sure that our kids or anyone usingany of the services that our government provides where they need food are actually eating New York healthy food," Hinchey said.
Lawmakers in both houses passed the bill last session which would apply to public facilities like schools, hospitals and prisons. Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, carried it in the Assembly.
"Sometimes the lowest bidder isn't always bringing the most healthy food and I believe that food is medicine and I don't think that we focus enough time on looking at it as if it is," Peoples-Stokes said.
In December, however, Gov. Kathy Hochul saw things differently, vetoing the legislation. In her memo, she noted she is a strong believer in ensuring New Yorkers have access to healthy food alternatives.
However, Hochul expressed concern the requirements of the bill could lead to different standards across localities which could have negative impacts on local growers and producers.
"We'll be doing a lot of advocacy and direct conversations with the second floor very early in this session to better understand if there's real concern on some of the structures of the bill or if there was just a misunderstanding on how it should work," Hinchey said.
Sponsors said they are willing to make tweaks to the bill if the governor has issues with specific language but Hinchey points out there are is already a lot of differences in how local governments operate and the legislation allows them to choose whether they want to participate. Peoples-Stokes said she plans to have conversations with anyone, including the governor, who disagrees with the bill.
"It's going to take me a little more time to convince her that we're saying the right thing on this one because we both want the same thing. We don't want the cost of healthcare to keep going up, we do want people to be healthier and I think this is a way to get that started," she said.