California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 459

Introduced by Assembly Member Mitchell

February 19, 2013

An act to amend Section 11005.4 of, and to add Section 11005.8 to, the Government Code, and to amend Section 12401 of, and to add Section 10300.1 to, the Public Contract Code, relating to public contracts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 459, as introduced, Mitchell. Public contracts: healthy and sustainable food.

Existing law regulates various aspects of the provision of food and beverages in vending machines, including requiring a vendor that operates or maintains a vending machine on designated state property to offer food and beverages in the vending machine that meet accepted nutritional guidelines, as defined, in accordance with certain content percentages. Existing law governing contracting between state agencies and private contractors sets forth requirements for the procurement of supplies, materials, equipment, and services by state agencies and sets forth the various responsibilities of the Department of General Services and other state agencies in overseeing and implementing state contracting procedures and policies.

This bill would require that at least 50% of the food offered by a vendor in a vending machine on state property, as defined, meet accepted nutritional guidelines by January 1, 2015. The bill would then require 75% compliance with accepted nutritional guidelines by January 1, 2016, and 100% compliance by January 1, 2017. On and after January 1, 2016, the bill would also require that 100% of beverages offered by a vendor in a vending machine on state property also meet the accepted nutritional guidelines. The bill would revise the definition of accepted nutritional guidelines for this purpose.

The bill would also require, on and after January 1, 2015, or upon expiration of an existing contract, whichever occurs later, any food or beverages sold in a state-owned or state-leased building to meet the standard criteria for food and nutrition guidelines for concessions as determined under the United States General Services Administration’s Health and Sustainability Guidelines for Federal Concessions and Vending Operations.

The bill would also require the Department of General Services, when approving contracts for the purchase of food or beverages sold in any state-owned or state-leased building, to give preference to, and not include disincentives for, food or beverage items that meet certain criteria, as specified, and would require the Department of General Services to provide state agencies with the United States General Services Administration’s Health and Sustainability Guidelines for Federal Concessions and Vending Operations.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 11005.4 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

11005.4.  

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
have the following meanings:

(1) “Accepted nutritional guidelines” as used in this section
means the following:

(A) Beverages that are the following or meet the following
standards:

begin delete

(i) Water.

end delete begin insert

(i) Drinking water, including carbonated water products without
added caloric sweeteners.

end insert

(ii) Milk begin delete , including, but not limited to, soy milk, rice milk, and
other similar dairy or nondairy milk end delete begin insert that is 2 percent, 1 percent,
or fat-free with no added caloric sweeteners end insert .

begin delete

(iii) Electrolyte replacement beverages that do not contain more
than 42 grams of added sweetener per 20-ounce serving.

end delete begin insert

(iii) Soy, rice, almond, or other plant-derived nondairy milk
beverages without added caloric sweeteners.

end insert

(iv) One hundred percent fruit juice.

(v) Fruit-based drinks that are composed of no less than 50
percent fruit juice begin delete and that have no end delete begin insert , limited to 12 ounce containers,
and containing no end insert added begin insert caloric end insert sweeteners.

begin insert

(vi) Unsweetened or artificially sweetened beverages that
contain no calories.

end insert begin insert

(vii) One hundred percent vegetable juice with less than 200
milligrams of sodium per serving.

end insert

(B) Food that meets the following standards:

(i) Not more than 35 percent of its total calories are from fat.
This clause begin delete does end delete begin insert shall end insert not apply to begin insert legumes, end insert nuts, begin insert nut butters, end insert
seeds, begin delete or whole grain products end delete begin insert eggs, nonfried vegetables, or cheese
packaged for individual sale end insert .

(ii) Not more than 10 percent of its total calories are from
saturated fats.

(iii) Not more than 35 percent of its total weight is from sugar
begin insert and no more than 10 grams of total sugars in an individual snack
item end insert . This clause does not apply to begin insert fresh, frozen, or canned in its
own juice or water end insert fruits begin insert with no added caloric sweetener, end insert and
begin insert fresh, frozen, or canned end insert vegetables begin insert with low sodium end insert .

begin insert

(iv) Contains zero grams of trans fat as labeled.

end insert begin insert

(v) Individual snack items shall not exceed 200 calories.

end insert begin insert

(vi) Individual snack items shall not exceed 230 milligrams of
sodium per serving.

end insert begin insert

(vii) Individual entrée items shall not exceed 500 calories per
serving.

end insert begin insert

(viii) Individual entrée items shall not exceed 480 milligrams
of sodium per serving.

end insert

(2) “Added begin insert caloric end insert sweetener” means begin delete any additive that enhances
the sweetness of a beverage end delete begin insert sugars and syrups that are added to
foods during processing or preparation end insert begin insert that also add end insert begin insert calories to
the item end insert , including, but not limited to, begin delete added end delete sugar, begin insert fructose, and
high fructose corn syrup, end insert but does not include the natural sugar or
sugars that are contained begin delete within the end delete begin insert in end insert fruit juice begin insert or milk end insert that is a
begin insert naturally occurring end insert component of the beverage.

begin insert

(3) “Individual entrée item” means food generally regarded as
the primary food in a meal and that contains either:

end insert begin insert

(A) Two or more of the following groups: meat or meat
alternatives such as tofu or other similar alternatives, grains or
bread, or vegetables or fruit that are eaten together, including,
but not limited to, sandwiches, pizza, hamburger on a bun, burrito,
chef’s salad, fruit and cheese platter, baked potato with chili, or
chicken stir-fry.

end insert begin insert

(B) A meat or meat alternative alone, such as a sausage patty,
eggs, and chicken nuggets. Nuts, nut butters, seeds, cheese, and
yogurt served alone shall not be included for purposes of this
subparagraph.

end insert begin insert

(4) “Individual snack item” means a food item that does not
meet the definition of an “individual entrée item.”

end insert begin delete

(3) 

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert begin insert   end insert “State property” as used in this section means all real
property, or part thereof, used for state purposes and either owned,
leased, rented, or otherwise controlled by, and occupied by, any
state agency.

begin delete

(4) 

end delete

begin insert (6) end insert begin insert   end insert “Vending machine” means any mechanical device the
operation of which depends upon the insertion of a coin or other
thing representative of value and that dispenses or vends a food
product or beverage, but does not include any mechanical device
that is unable to dispense any food or beverage meeting accepted
nutritional guidelines without physical alteration or any mechanical
device that solely dispenses or vends hot beverages or ice cream.

(b) A vendor that operates or maintains a vending machine on
state property shall do all of the following:

(1)  begin delete Offer end delete begin insert Until January 1, 2015, offer end insert at least 35 percent of the
food in a vending machine that meets accepted nutritional
guidelines begin insert established by this section end insert .

begin insert

(2) On and after January 1, 2015, offer at least 50 percent of
the food in a vending machine that meets the accepted nutritional
guidelines established by this section.

end insert begin insert

(3) On and after January 1, 2016, offer at least 75 percent of
the food in a vending machine that meets the accepted nutritional
guidelines established by this section.

end insert begin insert

(4) On and after January 1, 2017, offer 100 percent of the food
in a vending machine that meets the accepted nutritional guidelines
established by this section.

end insert begin delete

(2) Offer

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert (A) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Until January 1, 2016, offer end insert at least one-third of the
beverages in a vending machine that meets accepted nutritional
guidelines. A separate one-third of the beverages offered in the
vending machine shall either meet accepted nutritional guidelines
or be flavored milk, beverages containing less than 20 calories per
12 ounce serving, or beverages that are composed of at least 50
percent fruit juice that may contain noncaloric sweetener. The
remaining one-third of the beverages offered in the vending
machine may be any beverage allowed by law.

begin delete

(c) A vendor may meet the requirements in subdivision (b) by
offering 25 percent of the food in a vending machine that meets
accepted nutritional guidelines by January 1, 2009, and by offering
the total 35 percent of the food required to meet accepted
nutritional guidelines by January 1, 2011.

end delete begin insert

(B) On and after January 1, 2016, offer 100 percent of beverages
that meet the accepted nutritional guidelines established by this
section.

end insert begin delete

(d) 

end delete

begin insert (c) end insert begin insert   end insert If a vendor operates or maintains two or more vending
machines that are located next to each other, the provisions of
begin delete subdivisions end delete begin insert subdivision end insert (b) begin delete and (c) end delete may be met by calculating the
percentage of the total food and beverages offered in all of the
adjacent machines.

begin delete

(e) This section shall remain in effect only until four years after
the last date that a vendor may meet the requirements of paragraph
(1) of subdivision (b), as specified in subdivision (c), and as of
that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted
before that date, deletes or extends that date.

end delete

SEC. 2.  

Section 11005.8 is added to the Government Code, to
read:

11005.8.  

On and after January 1, 2015, or upon expiration of
an existing contract, whichever occurs later, food or beverages
sold in any state-owned or state-leased building at food concessions
and cafeterias shall meet at least the standard criteria for food and
nutrition guidelines for concessions as determined by the United
States Department of Health and Human Services and the United
States General Services Administration’s Health and Sustainability
Guidelines for Federal Concessions and Vending Operations.

SEC. 3.  

Section 10300.1 is added to the Public Contract Code,
to read:

10300.1.  

(a) When approving contracts for the purchase of
food or beverages to be sold in any state-owned or state-leased
building at food concessions, cafeterias, or vending operations,
the Department of General Services shall give preference to
purchasing food or beverage items grown, packaged, or produced
within the State of California.

(b) When approving contracts for the purchase of food or
beverages to be sold in any state-owned or state-leased building
for food concessions, cafeterias, or vending operations, the
Department of General Services shall give preference to purchasing
food or beverage items that meet the sustainability guidelines for
general food as determined by the United States Department of
Health and Human Services and the United States General Services
Administration’s Health and Sustainability Guidelines for Federal
Concessions and Vending Operations.

(c) When approving contracts for the purchase of food or
beverages to be sold in any state-owned or state-leased building
at food concessions, cafeterias, or vending operations, the
Department of General Services shall not include provisions that
provide a disincentive for the purchase of food or beverage items
that are grown, packaged, or produced within the State of California
or for food items that meet the sustainability guidelines in
subdivision (b).

SEC. 4.  

Section 12401 of the Public Contract Code is amended
to read:

12401.  

The Department of General Services, in consultation
with the California Environmental Protection Agency, members
of the public, industry, and public health and environmental
organizations, shall provide state agencies with information and
assistance regarding environmentally preferable purchasing begin insert , end insert
including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) The promotion of environmentally preferable purchasing.

(b) The development and implementation of a strategy to
increase environmentally preferable purchasing. This may include
the development of statewide policies, guidelines, programs, and
regulations.

(c) The coordination with other state and federal agencies, task
forces, workgroups, regulatory efforts, research and data collection
efforts, and other programs and services relating to environmentally
preferable purchasing.

(d) The development and implementation, to the extent fiscally
feasible, of training programs designed to instill the importance
and value of environmentally preferable purchasing.

(e) The development, to the extent fiscally feasible, of an
environmentally preferable purchasing best practices manual for
state purchasing employees.

begin insert

(f) The United States Department of Health and Human Services
and the United States General Services Administration’s Health
and Sustainability Guidelines for Federal Concessions and Vending
Operations to assist in developing practices to promote the
acquisition of healthy, sustainable, and environmentally preferable
purchasing.

end insert