BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2413| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2413 Author: John A. Pérez (D), et al. Amended: 8/19/14 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/17/14 AYES: Galgiani, Cannella, Berryhill, Lieu, Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14 AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/19/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : The Office of Farm to Fork SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill creates the Office of Farm to Fork (OFF) within the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) and requires OFF, to the extent that resources are available, to work with various entities, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. This bill creates the Farm to Fork Account (Account) in the DFA Fund that will consist of money made available from federal, state, industry, and other sources, and continuously appropriate money deposited in the Account to carry out the purposes of OFF. This bill also, until January 1, 2020, requires the DFA, to submit to the Legislature an overview of the Account's income and expenditures if specified conditions CONTINUED AB 2413 Page 2 exist. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Establishes the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative (CHFFI) for the purpose of promoting healthy food access to underserved communities. The CHFFI Council is required to develop program parameters and financing options to accomplish this goal. 2.Directs DFA to develop recommendations for actions to be taken to promote food access. In a 2012 report, recommendations included improving the distribution of fresh produce, expanding retail options for healthy food, helping low-income consumers purchase food, and supporting nutritious school meals. According to this report, the state can use existing infrastructure and relationships with farmers and food distributors to increase food access, and the state can coordinate existing state and federal resources to target them toward use in underserved communities. This bill: 1.States findings and declarations regarding access of healthy food for disadvantaged urban and rural communities, the prevalence of chronic health conditions related to poor diets in these communities, the current organizations seeking to resolve this problem, and the acknowledgment that DFA is uniquely situated to address this issue on a statewide level. 2.Creates OFF within DFA and requires OFF, to the extent resources are available, to work with the agricultural industry, direct marketing organizations, food policy councils, public health groups, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, academic institutions, district agricultural associations, government agencies, and other organizations involved in promoting food access. 3.Requires OFF to do all of the following: A. Work with stakeholders to identify urban and rural communities that lack access to healthy food, determine CONTINUED AB 2413 Page 3 current barriers, and share information to encourage best practices. B. Coordinate with governmental agencies to increase awareness of programs promoting greater food access. C. Promote retail sale of healthy foods in underserved communities, including promoting the use of CalFresh and Women, Infants, and Children benefits at farmers' markets, supporting urban agriculture, and increasing the quantity and quality of retail food stores. D. Foster partnerships among community partners. E. Identify distribution barriers that affect food access and overcome those barriers by encouraging food hubs, coordinating institutional food-buying practices, and increasing access to resources such as the CHFFI. F. Identify opportunities and provide assistance for collaboration between farmers and food banks or other nonprofit organizations to distribute agricultural products to reduce hunger and increase access to healthy foods. G. Identify opportunities to collaborate with community organizations to provide cooking and nutrition classes to underserved residents. H. Coordinate with school districts to encourage best purchasing practices, increase nutrition in schools, and increase access to nutrition education. 1.Creates the Account within the DFA Fund that shall consist of monies made available from federal, state, industry, philanthropic, and private sources, and be appropriated continuously without regard to fiscal year to carry out purposes of the above provisions. 2.Requires, until January 1, 2020, DFA in any year in which funds are received into or expanded from the Account, to submit to the Legislature an overview of the Account's income and expenditures. Background CONTINUED AB 2413 Page 4 The concept of "farm to fork" is gaining nationwide interest as a means to bring fresh, healthy foods from the farm directly to consumers, restaurants, food banks, farmers' markets, and other retail food outlets. A broad and loosely defined term, the overarching purpose of the farm-to-fork movement is to connect consumers and farmers, create infrastructure for food distribution, and improve food access. Prior legislation . AB 581 (Pérez, Chapter 505, Statutes of 2011) creates the CHFFI for the purpose of promoting healthy food access to underserved communities. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, DFA currently operates a farm to fork program via an interagency agreement with two other state departments. However, the duties of OFF, as prescribed in this bill, could potentially result in workload and subsequent costs that exceed the current value of the contract by a potentially several hundred thousands of dollars (special fund, see Staff Comments). Costs to DFA to create a new account within the Food and Agriculture Fund would be minor and absorbable. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/14) American Academy of Pediatrics, California Association of California Healthcare Districts Rural County Representatives of California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, this bill "Creates the Office of Farm to Fork within the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to work with various entities including the agricultural industry, direct marketing organizations, food policy councils, public health groups, schools, district agricultural associations, county, state and federal agencies and other organizations involved in promoting food access in order to increase the amount of agricultural products available to schools and underserved communities." Current efforts are underway by a variety of public and private entities to achieve the goal of increasing food access. It has CONTINUED AB 2413 Page 5 been argued that DFA has the expertise, relationships, and infrastructure to further these efforts through a collaborative statewide program. According to the 2012 DFA report previously referenced, "Government and private efforts to increase food access are already underway at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to harmonize these efforts and avoid duplication, the state can take an active role in coordinating efforts and sharing information among the various entities working to increase food access. CHFFI can serve to facilitate this coordination and make sure communities have partners at the table and that they are connected to the appropriate funding sources." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/19/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Mansoor, Nazarian, Nestande, Vacancy JL/AL:k 8/19/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED