BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2322
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
William W. Monning, Chair
AB 2322 (Gatto) - As Amended: April 11, 2012
SUBJECT : California Special Supplemental Food Program for
Women, Infants, and Children.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
adopt regulations for the California Special Supplemental Food
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and specifies
criteria to be used when initiating a moratorium on
authorizations of new WIC retail food vendor location
applications. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires an authorized food vendor to be either of the
following:
a) A licensed retail outlet that satisfies the minimum food
stocking requirements established in DPH regulations; or,
b) A farmer participating in the Farmers Market Nutrition
Program accepting WIC fruit and vegetable checks at an
authorized farmers' market.
2)Requires an authorized food vendor described in 1) above to be
open at least five days per week. Requires daily operating
hours to be posted and consistent from week to week.
3)Requires DPH to adopt regulations to specify the criteria DPH
is to follow when initiating a moratorium on new WIC retail
food vendor location applications.
4)Requires the regulations, at a minimum to do the following:
a) Define what is an effective caseload management level;
and,
b) Identify the maximum duration of a moratorium.
5)Requires a vendor alert or other official communication
regarding the initiation of a moratorium to be accompanied by
an action plan with specific steps DPH plans to take to
achieve caseload management by the identified end date of the
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moratorium. Requires DPH to make this information, including
any changes to the action plan, available to the public by
posting this information on DPH's Internet Website and through
other forms of electronic communication.
6)Requires DPH to process WIC retail food vendor location
applications during the moratorium period if DPH was notified
by the retail food vendor of the vendor's intent to obtain
authorization for a specific store location prior to the
effective date of the moratorium.
7)Requires DPH to provide retail food vendors with a minimum of
60 days' notice prior to the effective date of, or extension
of, a moratorium.
8)Requires DPH to seek any federal approvals necessary to
implement the provisions of this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the establishment of a statewide WIC program,
administered by DPH, for providing nutritional food
supplements to low-income pregnant women, low-income
postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and
children under five years of age, who have been determined to
be at nutritional risk.
2)Provides for the redemption of nutrition coupons by WIC
participants at any authorized WIC retail food vendor.
3)Requires DPH to authorize an appropriate number and
distribution of WIC retail food vendors, and requires DPH to
establish certain criteria.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
Committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, over the
years, supermarkets and grocery stores have been driven out of
local communities by slim margins, restrictive zoning
requirements, and high rents. Grocers have made strong
efforts at opening stores, in both rural and urban communities
to provide access to healthy affordable food. The author
maintains that when a grocer looks to expand operations, there
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are a number of factors an operator has to understand and
sometimes overcome to locate a store. These challenges, the
author asserts, range from putting together sufficient parcels
of land, zoning, permitting, and making sure they can serve
all members of the community, especially in low-income areas
where they must be able to accept WIC benefits. The author
argues that a grocer will often make sure that there are no
moratoriums or delays in obtaining the appropriate WIC retail
food vendor location authorizations before purchasing a new
property. As a result, when a moratorium is enacted, grocers
are less likely to expand operations into communities who may
need these services most. The author indicates that,
currently, there are no rules or regulations outlining how
much notice DPH must provide retail food vendors prior to
enacting a moratorium, how long a moratorium will be in place,
or the actions that will be taken to address the problem for
which the moratorium was enacted. This lack of information
and uncertainty makes it challenging for grocers to plan and
serve all members of their community.
2)WIC . According to DPH, WIC is a 100% federally funded
nutrition and health program that provides education and food.
DPH asserts that the program is designed to provide temporary
assistance during those brief periods in life which can become
more challenging: during pregnancy, the birth of a newborn or
having a young child with nutrition and/or health conditions.
Most families participating in WIC, according to DPH, are
employed with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty
level (currently $42,642 for a family of four). DPH maintains
that WIC responds, up to a child's fifth birthday, with
nutritious food, parenting and nutrition education, support
for breastfeeding mothers and babies, referrals for services
needed by the family, and requirements for medical care to
continue participation.
DPH administers contracts with 84 local agencies - half local
governments and half private, non-profit community
organizations - which operate WIC centers in 650 locations
statewide. DPH maintains that at these centers, approximately
3,000 local WIC staff members assess WIC eligibility based on
residency requirements, income, and health or nutritional
risk, and issue six million food checks each month. Each
check is valid for a 30-day period and is payable for a
specific type and quantity of food. DPH asserts that WIC is a
direct infusion into the California economy of about $1.1
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billion per year, with the retail value of WIC checks about
$63 per month per participant.
According to DPH, WIC checks can be redeemed at any of the over
5,500 grocery stores statewide that have entered into vendor
agreements with WIC. Stores may charge WIC their shelf prices
for the foods purchased up to a maximum allowable amount
calculated for each peer group (determined by store type,
where the store is located, and the number of registers in the
store) and updated every two weeks.
DPH indicates that WIC is not an entitlement program for which
Congress sets aside funds to serve every eligible individual,
but rather WIC is a discretionary program operating under a
capped grant administered by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) for which Congress appropriates a specified
amount of funds annually. California WIC supplements this
allocation with formula manufacturer rebates. According to
the USDA, nationwide, WIC operates in all 50 states plus
tribal organizations and territories. In fiscal year 2011,
the program served 8.9 million participants, including almost
half of all infants born in the U. S. California is the
nation's largest WIC program serving 16.4% (1.46 million) of
all WIC participants.
3)VENDOR AUTHORIZATION . According to California regulations,
any retail outlet meeting certain food stocking requirements
may apply to become an authorized WIC retail food vendor. DPH
may limit the number of retail food vendors in a geographic
area taking into consideration the adequacy of WIC participant
access and DPH's ability to effectively manage review of
authorized retail food vendors. The regulations stipulate
that all applicants are required to complete a WIC
application. Specified criteria relative to the completeness
of the application are considered to determine if a food
vendor will be authorized including: a) the history of
compliance with WIC during previous periods of participation;
and, b) the appropriate rate of food prices. Each retail food
outlet location must be authorized separately from any other
location operated by an individual, group of individuals, or a
corporation.
4)SUPPORT . Western Center on Law & Poverty (WCLP) writes in
support that providing retail food vendors with the
information specified in this bill will allow retail food
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vendors to plan and prepare for new retail locations to serve
WIC participants. While WCLP states they understand the
importance of ensuring adequate staff to support vendor
authorizations, WCLP believes the unique public-private
partnership upon which WIC is balanced should be managed with
transparency and consideration for the planning needs of the
retail food vendor community seeking to serve populations
where the majority of residents are low-income. WCLP argues
that this bill seeks to achieve this goal of balance and
transparency and represents a conservative effort to achieve
the goals of improved processes for imposing moratoriums and
managing retail food vendor communication.
5)POLICY CONCERN . This bill requires DPH to provide retail food
vendors with a minimum of 60 days' notice prior to the
effective date of, or extension of, a moratorium. This
requirement appears unreasonably restrictive and may inhibit
DPH's ability to perform its administrative function as it
deems appropriate. The author may wish to consider reducing
this minimum notification requirement to 30 days.
6)TECHNICAL AMENDMENT . The author has indicated that Section 4
of this bill, which adds Section 123311 to the Health and
Safety Code, is language that was inadvertently left in the
bill from a previous version and it is the author's intent to
delete this section.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Grocers Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Farm Bureau Federation
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Tanya Robinson-Taylor / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097
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