STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5159 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 11, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BENEDETTO, FERNANDEZ, L. ROSENTHAL, SAYEGH, CRUZ, WOERNER, RAMOS, BUTTENSCHON, SIMON, LAVINE, NIOU, COOK, GLICK, GALEF, GOTTFRIED, CARROLL, JACKSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ENGLE- BRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to local wellness poli- cies; and providing for the repeal of certain provisions The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2-f to 2 read as follows: 3 § 2-f. Model wellness policy. 1. The commissioner shall establish a 4 New York state model wellness policy. Such policy shall be developed: 5 (a) In consultation with state agencies including, but not limited to, 6 the department of health, department of agriculture and markets, office 7 of mental health, and office of temporary and disability assistance; and 8 (b) Once the model wellness policy is drafted, the commissioner shall 9 solicit comments and feedback from experts and stakeholders, including 10 but not limited to school administrators, school boards, teachers, 11 parents, students, school food service directors, physicians, nurses, 12 registered dietitians, nutritionists, mental health professionals, coop- 13 erative extensions, not-for-profit organizations, and institutions of 14 higher education. 15 2. The wellness policy established by subdivision one of this section 16 shall be in compliance with all relevant state and federal laws, includ- 17 ing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 7 CFR 210.30, and repre- 18 sent best practices and guidance from (i) the stakeholder group estab- 19 lished in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section and (ii) the 20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Whole School, Whole Commu- 21 nity, Whole Child model. 22 3. On or before January first, two thousand twenty-two, the model 23 wellness policy shall be made available to school districts, boards of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02966-03-1

A. 5159 2 1 cooperative educational services, charter schools and nonpublic schools. 2 School districts, boards of cooperative educational services, charter 3 schools and nonpublic schools may, but shall not be required to, incor- 4 porate all or part of the model policy as a part of their locally 5 adopted wellness policy. 6 4. On or before July first, two thousand twenty-one, the commissioner 7 shall establish and maintain an online, publicly available and searcha- 8 ble database of every local educational agencies' most recently reviewed 9 wellness policy and triennial assessment. 10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to 11 have been in full force and effect on and after April 1, 2021; provided, 12 however, that if the requirement to perform administrative reviews of 13 wellness policies incorporated in 7 CFR 210.18 is repealed, subdivision 14 4 of section 2-f of the education law as added by section one of this 15 act shall be repealed; provided further, however, that the commissioner 16 of education shall notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon 17 the occurrence of the repeal of subdivision 4 of section 2-f of the 18 education law as added by section one of this act in order that the 19 commission may maintain an accurate and timely effective database of the 20 official text of the laws of the state of New York in furtherance of 21 effectuating the provisions of section 44 of the legislative law and 22 section 70-b of the public officers law.

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