Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 996: Agriculture, Department of; food deserts; require annual reporting
Last action January 27, 2026 · House Second Readers
A Georgia House bill would require the Department of Agriculture to publish an annual report identifying food deserts across the state and recommending ways to shrink them.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
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.
What the bill does
- 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.
Who it affects
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.
Why it matters
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.
Key provisions
- 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.
From the bill
“'Food desert' means an area with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent where at least one-third of the population lives more than one mile away from a retail food store or farmers' market”
“the department, in coordination with the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services, shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly an annual report”
Discussed in meetings (3)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee, February 23, 2026
From 0:38:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 996 would establish consistent monitoring and annual reporting on food access, using a Mississippi model, without an appropriation or new spending. The sponsor cited estimates ranging from nearly 1 million Georgians with limited grocery access to nearly 2 million living in food deserts, including half a million children, and said reporting could guide local solutions. One member noted that the bill used a one-mile grocery-distance threshold without the 10-mile rural threshold described in the presentation. The sponsor acknowledged an oversight. Another member asked how recent the data was, pointing to Dollar General stores adding produce; the sponsor offered to provide dates. A third member questioned whether those stores would meet the bill’s supermarket definition and asked about a fiscal note. The sponsor said stores lacking fresh meat generally would not qualify and said earlier conversations had not identified a need for a fiscal note, but offered further review. The chair raised staffing and cost concerns. Another member suggested using University of Georgia extension or family and consumer sciences resources rather than DFCS. The chair confirmed the bill was for hearing only. No amendment or vote followed.
Status timeline
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Bryce Berry (D, HD-56)
- Robert Dawson (D, HD-65)
- Imani Barnes (D, HD-86)
- Kim Schofield (D, HD-63)
- Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)
Topics
- food deserts
- agriculture policy
- public health
- grocery access
- state reporting requirements