HB 996: Agriculture, Department of; food deserts; require annual reporting

Georgia does not currently require any state agency to formally track or report on food deserts, areas where residents live far from grocery stores and have poor access to fresh food. This bill adds a new section to Georgia's agriculture code (O.C.G.A. § 2-2-14) that defines a food desert as an area with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent where at least a third of residents live more than a mile from a retail food store or farmers market. Starting October 31, 2026, and every year after, the Department of Agriculture, working with the Division of Family and Children Services in the Department of Human Services, must submit an annual report to the General Assembly. The report must map out where food deserts exist, describe the health problems linked to them, and recommend ways to reduce their number and size. The department can rely on existing federal data to meet these requirements. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or lets it become law without a signature.

• Creates a new legal definition of 'food desert' in Georgia law based on poverty rate and distance from grocery stores or farmers markets.
• Defines 'retail food store' as a full-service grocery store with at least $2 million in annual sales and standard supermarket departments.
• Requires the Department of Agriculture to submit an annual report on food deserts to the General Assembly starting October 31, 2026.
• Directs the Department of Agriculture to coordinate with the Division of Family and Children Services on the report.
• Requires the report to identify food desert locations, describe related health issues, and recommend ways to reduce them.
• Allows the department to satisfy reporting requirements using existing federal government data instead of generating new data.

The Department of Agriculture and the Division of Family and Children Services, which must produce the report, as well as Georgia residents living in low-income areas with limited access to grocery stores, whose neighborhoods would be studied and mapped under the new reporting requirement.

Georgians in underserved areas would gain a state-level accounting of where food access is worst and why, information that lawmakers could use when deciding on future grocery access or public health programs, though the bill itself does not fund or create any new food access programs.

• Section 1 adds Code Section 2-2-14, defining 'food desert' as an area with 20 percent or greater poverty where a third of residents live over a mile from a retail food store or farmers market.
• Section 1 defines 'retail food store' as a store with at least $2 million in annual sales carrying standard supermarket departments like fresh produce, meat, dairy, and frozen foods.
• Subsection (b) requires the Department of Agriculture, with the Division of Family and Children Services, to submit an annual report starting October 31, 2026.
• Subsection (b) requires the report to cover food desert locations, associated health issues, and recommendations for reducing them.
• Subsection (c) allows federal data to satisfy any of the report's requirements.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without a signature.

1. 2026-01-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-01-16House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-15House Hopper (House)

• Bryce Berry (D, HD-056)Primary sponsor
• Robert Dawson (D, HD-065)
• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)

• food deserts
• agriculture policy
• public health
• grocery access
• state reporting requirements