BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2385
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2385 (Ting) - As Amended: April 8, 2014
Policy Committee:
AgricultureVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill creates the Market Match Nutrition Incentive Program
(MMNIP) for encouraging the purchase and consumption of fresh
California fruits, nuts, and vegetables by directly linking
producers with certain benefit recipients; creates the MMNIP
account within the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) to
collect funds from the federal Food Insecurity Nutrition
Incentives Grant Program (a part of the federal Agricultural Act
of 2014) and provide grants under MMNIP.
The bill directs the DFA to solicit grant proposals, score, and
award grant funds in accordance with forthcoming federal
regulations, and establish standards, funding schedules, and
procedures for awarding grants in consultation with the US
Department of Agriculture (USDA). The bill also establishes
standards for prioritizing grants within the state.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown but likely significant GF costs to DFA, in excess of
$150,000, to establish the program, solicit proposals, grant
funds, and oversee compliance among grant recipients.
COMMENTS
1) Purpose. According to the author, the new federal farm bill
made substantial cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), the federal funding source for CalFresh), the
federal Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program, and other
food and nutrition safety net programs that serve people in
need, but the federal MMNIP was expanded to provided $100
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million in grants over five years. The author contends
California is in position to benefit from this increase due to
the roughly 700 certified farmers' markets and over 2,200
certified producers.
2) Recipients and Benefit. Benefit recipients eligible to
receive additional funds include recipients under CalFresh,
WIC, the federal Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, and
Supplemental Security Income or State Supplementary Payment
recipients. The MMNIP is designed to double the value of
fresh California fruits, nuts, and vegetables that may be
purchased by eligible benefit recipients.
3) Roots of Change Pilot. The sponsor, Roots of Change, used
$1.9 million from a DFA specialty block grant to create and
fund a market match pilot program from 2009 to 2013. Roots of
Change helped establish 14 community-based partners operating
in 17 counties, implementing the program in 140 markets and
serving 37,000 families. Currently, the program is funded by
philanthropic sources at a reduced level, thereby limiting its
scope and benefit. The sponsor states that in 2013, $238,000
in the program generated $1.54 million in purchases of
products. The sponsor estimates that a $2 million grant from
USDA could generate purchases of $18 million, serve 100,000
clients, and generate hundreds of farm jobs.
4) Current Market Match Programs. While this bill would
establish a market match program at the state level, there are
currently eleven market match programs operating in California
known as the California Farmers' Market Consortium. These
programs are run by a group of nonprofits and cooperatives and
already receive federal market match funds. According to DFA,
consumers in California were able to purchase over $1.8
million in specialty crops using CalFresh and WIC benefits
between 2010 and 2012 through these local programs.
Furthermore, while this bill would codify a MMNIP within DFA,
such a program is not a necessary precondition to receiving
USDA funds. The benefits envisioned by this bill are, in many
cases, already being achieved through local programs, and may
also be achievable within DFA without necessarily requiring
the legislation proposed here.
Analysis Prepared by : Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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