§ 7503 — State Plan

(1) To receive commodities under this chapter, a State shall submit to the Secretary an operation and administration plan for the provision of benefits under this chapter. (2) A State shall submit to the Secretary for approval any amendment to a plan submitted under paragraph (1) in any case in which the State proposes to make a change to the operation or administration of a program described in the plan. (b) Each plan shall— (1) designate the State agency responsible for distributing the commodities received under this chapter; (2) set forth a plan of operation and administration to expeditiously distribute commodities under this chapter; (3) set forth the standards of eligibility for recipient agencies; (4) set forth the standards of eligibility for individual or household recipients of commodities, which shall require— (A) individuals or households to be comprised of needy persons; and (B) individual or household members to be residing in the geographic location served by the distributing agency at the time of applying for assistance; (5) at the option of the State agency, describe a plan of operation for 1 or more projects in partnership with 1 or more emergency feeding organizations located in the State to harvest, process, package, or transport donated commodities received under section 7507(d) of this title; and (6) describe a plan, which may include the use of a State advisory board established under subsection (c), that provides emergency feeding organizations or eligible recipient agencies within the State an opportunity to provide input on the commodity preferences and needs of the emergency feeding organization or eligible recipient agency. (c) The Secretary shall encourage each State receiving commodities under this chapter to establish a State advisory board consisting of representatives of all entities in the State, both public and private, interested in the distribution of commodities received under this chapter.