BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 581
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
AB 581 (John A. Pérez) - As Introduced: February 16, 2011
SUBJECT : Public Health: food access.
SUMMARY : This bill creates the California Healthy Food Financing
Initiative (CHFFI) and fund for the purpose of expanding access to
healthy foods in underserved communities. Further, it requires, by
July 1, 2012, specified agencies to prepare recommended actions to
be taken to promote food access within California. This authority
remains in effect until January 1, 2015. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes Legislative findings and declarations describing
California's productive farmlands and production, the need to
protect farmland for future food supplies, that access to healthy
food is a basic human right, that lack of access could relate to
higher rates of diseases, and that opportunities for greater
access to food should be actively pursued and fostered.
2)Titles this Act as CHFFI and requires, by July 1, 2012,the
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in
consultation with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and
the State Department of Social Services (DSS), to prepare
recommendations to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to
be taken to promote food access in the state.
3)Permits the creation of an advisory group to assist agencies in
developing recommendations. Requires the make-up of the group to
include representatives from the Legislature, food policy
advocates, grocery and financial industries representatives, food
systems researchers, agricultural representatives, and nonprofit
organizations with food access expertise.
4)Specifies that CDFA, in consultation with DPH, DSS, and the
Treasurer, may coordinate efforts to maximize funding
opportunities provided by the federal 2010 Healthy Food Financing
Initiative.
5)Requires CDFA, in consultation with DPH, DSS, and the Treasurer,
to implement CHFFI. States that this national initiative is
intended to expand access to nutritious foods in underserved areas
and eliminate food deserts across the nation in seven years.
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6)Creates the CHFFI Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of
federal, state, and private funds and requires them to be used to
expand access to healthy foods in underserved communities.
Directs funds, to the extent practicable, to be leveraged with
other funding sources, as specified, including, federal Community
Reinvestment Act funds.
7)Sunsets this Act on January 1, 2015, unless future statues delete
or extend that date.
EXISTING LAW has no such existing programs in statute. Statute does
require DPH, in conjunction with CDFA, to develop a pilot program to
increase the sale and purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables in
low-income communities, as specified, and, prohibits the use of
General Funds for this program.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : An increasing problem within urban and rural communities
in California, and nation-wide, is the access to grocery stores and
the availability of fresh produce, creating what is called "food
deserts." A food desert is a geographic area with limited access to
affordable, quality, and nutritious foods. The 2008 Farm Bill
required the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study
food deserts. Findings from that study include:
1)Of all U.S. households, 2.3 million (2.2 %), live more than a mile
from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. An
additional 3.4 million households (3.2 %) live between one-half to
one mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle.
2)Area-based measures of access show that 23.5 million people live
in low-income areas (areas where more than 40 % of the population
has an income at or below 200 % of federal poverty thresholds)
that are more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery
store. However, not all of these 23.5 million people have low
incomes. If estimates are restricted to consider only low-income
people in low-income areas, then 11.5 million people, (4.1 % of
the U.S. population) live in low-income areas more than one mile
from a supermarket.
3)Data on time use and travel mode show that people living in
low-income areas with limited access spend significantly more time
(19.5 minutes) traveling to a grocery store than the national
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average (15 minutes). However, 93 % of those who live in
low-income areas with limited access traveled to the grocery store
in a vehicle they or another household member drove.
A subset of food deserts are areas increasingly referred to as "food
swamps." A food swamp is a defined geographic area where the
overabundance of high-energy foods (for example, caloric snacks sold
at convenience stores or high fat, high caloric foods sold at fast
food outlets) overwhelms the healthy food options.
In February of 2010, the Obama Administration (Administration)
announced details of HFFI and committing over $400 million to the
program, which will help bring grocery stores and other healthy food
retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across the
nation.
The HFFI is a partnership between the federal Departments of the
Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services. HFFI will
promote a range of interventions that expand access to nutritious
foods, including developing and equipping grocery stores and other
small businesses and retailers selling healthy food in communities
that currently lack these options. Residents of these communities
are often found in economically distressed areas, and are typically
served by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer
little or no fresh produce. Lack of healthy, affordable food
options can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related
diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Through this new multi-year HFFI, and by engaging with the private
sector, the Administration intends to work toward eliminating food
deserts across the country within seven years. The first year of
funding proposes to leverage enough investments to begin expanding
healthy foods options into as many as one-fifth of the nation's food
deserts, and create thousands of jobs in urban and rural communities
across the nation.
This bill creates the CHFFI program and permits CDFA to coordinate
the effort in the development of a program in the creation of this
program; it should provide a head start for obtaining any federal
funds made available for such purposes.
The author has technical, non-substantive amendments that will be
taken in the next committee to make clarifying changes. They are as
follows:
Page 3, beginning with line 17:
AB 581
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104662. (a) The Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation
with the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of
Social Services, and the Treasurer, shall implement the California
Healthy Food Financing Initiative. This initiative is modeled on
the federal Healthy Foods Financing Initiative which This national
initiative is intended to expand access to nutritious foods in
underserved, urban, and rural communities and to eliminate food
deserts across the country within seven years.
(b) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that
federal funds are made available for the purposes of this section.
The initiative shall be implemented using the California Healthy
Food Financing Initiative Fund, as established by section 104663.
104663. (a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury the
California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund, which shall be
comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds for
the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved
communities.
(b) Moneys in the fund shall be expended upon appropriation by the
Legislature, and shall be used, to the extent practicable, to
leverage other funding, including, but not limited to, new markets
tax credits, federal and foundation grant programs, incentives
available to designated enterprise zones, the federal Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program, and funding from private sector financial
institutions pursuant to the federal Community Reinvestment Act.
RELATED LEGISLATION : AB 152 (Fuentes), establishes the State
Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) within DSS and allows for
contributions to SEFAP for the purchase of California grown fresh
fruits or vegetables. Provides a tax credit to California growers
for the costs of fresh fruits or vegetables donated to California
food banks. This bill passed the Assembly Committee on Health and
is set for hearing in the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation
on April 25, 2011.
PRIOR LEGISLATION : AB 2720 (John A. Pérez) 2010, was substantially
similar to this bill and passed by this committee last year on a
vote of 6-0. This bill was vetoed during last year's budget
negotiations by Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto
message:
"While my Administration shares the same goals as the author
when it comes to promoting healthy and affordable food access
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for low-income communities in California, the Healthy Food
Financing Initiative has not yet been acted on by Congress.
Unless and until those important federal funding details are
known, this bill is both premature and unnecessary."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Center for Rural Policy
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Medical Association
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California Physical Therapy Association
California Primary Care Association
California State Association of Counties
California State Grange
Western Growers
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084