ASSEMBLY, No. 1375

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  JAMEL C. HOLLEY

District 20 (Union)

Assemblywoman  ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

Assemblyman  JOHN ARMATO

District 2 (Atlantic)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Mazzeo

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires Dept. of Agriculture to increase participation in school meal programs through marketing campaign.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

  


An Act concerning school meal programs and supplementing chapter 33 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education shall:

     (1)   undertake a targeted marketing campaign highlighting the importance of providing children the nutrition they need to succeed in school;

     (2)   Encourage parents and children to enroll eligible children into the federal School Lunch Program or the federal School Breakfast Program; and

     (3)   Use marketing material which is appealing to children, which may include, but need not be limited to, the use of superheroes in marketing material.

 

     2.    The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), such rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect one year after the date of enactment.

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill would require the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education to create a marketing campaign to highlight the importance of providing children the nutrition they need to succeed in school.  In addition, the campaign would require the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, to encourage parents and children to enroll eligible children into the federal School Lunch Program or the federal School Breakfast Program and

use marketing material which is appealing to children, which may include the use of superheroes in marketing material.

     Numerous studies document that childhood hunger impedes learning and can cause lifelong health problems. In New Jersey, tens of thousands of children suffer from hunger each year, with nearly 540,000 students living in families eligible to receive free or low-cost school meals.

     New Jersey should implement measures to increase participation in school breakfast and lunch programs by targeting parents and children through a marketing campaign.  By doing so, it would help remove a major barrier to learning by providing children the nutrition they need to succeed in school.