(1) There is created in the department the local school food purchasing program to reimburse participating providers for the purchase of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products.
(2) (a) A school district, charter school, board of cooperative services that operates a public school, or residential child care center may apply to the department on a form developed by the department to participate in the school food purchasing program to receive reimbursement for the purchase of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products pursuant to this section.
(b) (I) (A) The department shall select participating providers that, in the previous year for which numbers are available, the total number of lunches provided by all participating providers was ten million or fewer, and no participating provider may have provided more than two million one hundred fifty thousand school lunches in the previous year.
(B) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, only the participating providers selected on or before March 1, 2020, shall participate in the local school food purchasing program for the 2021-22 budget year. This subsection (2)(b)(I)(B) is repealed, effective July 1, 2022.
(II) The department shall give preference to applicants that:
Demonstrate a commitment to local purchasing or food and agricultural education;
Have a kitchen with the ability to store, prepare, and serve local food products;
Have greater than twenty-five percent of their students eligible for free or reducedprice lunch pursuant to the provisions of the federal "Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 1751 et seq.;
Served fewer than one million two hundred fifty thousand school lunches in theprevious year's count; and
Satisfy any other eligibility requirements established by the department.
(III) To the extent possible, in selecting participating providers, the department shall ensure diversity in geographic location and district pupil count.
(c) On or before August 1 of the year following the participating provider's application, the participating provider shall track and report to the department on a form developed by the department for the school year in which it applied, and for the prior year, the total amount of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products it purchased for student meals, the total amount of value-added processed products it purchased for school meals, and the total number of lunches that it provided to students.
(3) (a) (I) In October 2021 and each October thereafter, the department shall reimburse each participating provider participating in the school food purchasing program as of the previous December 1 five cents for every school lunch that the participating provider provided in the previous school year; except that a participating provider shall not be reimbursed for the amount of value-added processed products that exceeds twenty-five percent of the total of the Colorado grown, raised, or processed products it purchased.
(II) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3)(a)(I) of this section, the maximum amount of reimbursements that may be awarded in any year is five hundred thousand dollars.
(b) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2020.)
Reimbursement payments pursuant to this section accrue to the participating provider's nonprofit school food account.
(a) The state board of education is authorized to adopt rules to implement the school food purchasing program.
(b) The department is authorized to monitor the school food purchasing program to ensure program integrity and to annually reallocate money among participating providers to maximize the amount of the money given.
(6) If in any fiscal year the department does not expend or encumber the full amount of the appropriation for the school food purchasing program, up to five percent of the appropriation is available to the department in the next fiscal year to pay for the evaluation required by section 22-100-104 (1)(e).
Source: L. 2019: Entire article added, (HB 19-1132), ch. 176, p. 2022, § 1, effective
August 2. L. 2020: (2)(a), (2)(b), and (3) amended and (6) added, (HB 20-1300), ch. 97, p. 378, § 1, effective March 27; (2)(b)(I) and (3)(a)(I) amended, (HB 20-1418), ch. 197, p. 949, § 30, effective June 30.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 20-1418, see section 1 of chapter 197, Session Laws of Colorado 2020.