BILL NUMBER: AJR 31 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
AUGUST 26, 2013
Relative to child nutrition programs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 31, as introduced, Skinner. Child nutrition programs: school
meals.
This bill would declare that the Legislature supports federal
standards for healthy meals, including those standards recently
adopted pursuant to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, would
urge the President and the Congress of the United States to ensure
that reimbursement rates for school meals are adequate to fully fund
the cost of producing a nutritious school meal relative to the cost
of living in a region, and would state that the eligibility scale
used to qualify families for free and reduced-priced meals be
adjusted, as specified.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The National School Lunch Program is declared to be the
policy of Congress, "as a measure of national security, to safeguard
the health and well-being of the nation's children and to encourage
the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and
other food, by assisting the states, through grants-in-aid and other
means, in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities
for the establishment, maintenance, operation, and expansion of
nonprofit school lunch programs"; and
WHEREAS, Federal regulations further state that participating
schools shall ensure that children gain a full understanding of the
relationship between proper eating and good health; and
WHEREAS, Child nutrition programs are responsible for
collaborating with the school community to implement comprehensive
nutrition and wellness policies in school districts; and
WHEREAS, All of California's more than 6 million pupils deserve
access to high-quality, safe, nutritious meals available in the
school setting, recognizing the link between adequate nourishment and
educational performance; and
WHEREAS, Children who experience hunger have been shown to be more
likely to have lower math scores, decreased attentiveness, increased
likelihood of repeating a grade, increased absences and tardiness,
and more referrals to special education services; and
WHEREAS, Child nutrition programs in California provide over 4
million meals to school children daily, and must comply with complex
state and federal requirements, provide adequate food preparation and
dining facilities, and meet budget requirements despite rapidly
escalating food, energy, transportation, labor, and other costs; and
WHEREAS, Losses in the school meal programs must be offset by
other revenue sources that would otherwise support classroom
instruction; and
WHEREAS, Recent changes in federal menu planning regulations
resulting from the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 have
increased costs so that they now exceed the additional
reimbursements provided for school meals; and
WHEREAS, The difference between reimbursement and cost undermines
the ability to continue to provide nutritious meals to all pupils;
and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture recognizes
higher cost as a factor in determining reimbursement rates by
allowing a higher federal reimbursement rate in Alaska and Hawaii;
and
WHEREAS, Many families who qualify for reduced-price meals,
prescribed by federal law using the federal poverty level, find it
difficult to pay the reduced fee, and the fee for a paid meal is an
insurmountable barrier to participation for an increasing number of
families in California; and
WHEREAS, The eligibility scale to qualify pupils for free or
reduced-price meals is the same scale throughout the country and does
not consider regions with higher costs of living; and
WHEREAS, The January 2013 Institute of Medicine report
"Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the Evidence to
Define Benefit Adequacy" recognizes local and regional costs as
negatively impacting the effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program; and
WHEREAS, The same dynamics impact school meal programs; and
WHEREAS, A self-sufficiency index, which identifies the income
levels at which families can meet their most basic needs without
public support, is available in all regions to apply to meal
eligibility standards; and
WHEREAS, A single-parent household with two children in San Mateo
County, California, needs $56,280 to be self-sufficient, while a
similar family in Guernsey County, Ohio, is self-sufficient with only
$24,258; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature supports federal standards
for healthy meals, including those standards recently adopted
pursuant to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and urges the
President and the Congress of the United States to ensure that
reimbursement rates for school meals are adequate to fully fund the
cost of producing a nutritious school meal relative to the cost of
living in a region; and be it further
Resolved, That the eligibility scale used to qualify families for
free and reduced-price meals be adjusted according to the
self-sufficiency index for the region served; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.