Amended in Assembly April 23, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 15

Introduced by Assembly Member Eggman

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O’Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Rodriguez, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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April 6, 2015

House Resolution No. 15—Relative to California Thursday.

WHEREAS, April 23, 2015, is the statewide rollout of
“California Thursdays”; and

WHEREAS, “California Thursdays” is a collaboration between
the Center for Ecoliteracy, participating school districts, and allied
organizations to serve healthy, freshly prepared school meals made
from California-grown food; and

WHEREAS, Forty-two innovative school districts that
collectively serve over 250 million meals a year, including large
and small rural, urban, and suburban school districts across
California, have joined the “California Thursdays” network; and

WHEREAS, California agriculture leads the nation, its 80,500
farms and ranches received $42.6 billion for their output in 2013,
and its agricultural abundance comprises more that 400
commodities, including nearly one-half of United States-grown
fruits, nuts, and vegetables; and

WHEREAS, “California Thursdays” will increase the
procurement of California-grown food, and every dollar spent in
the agriculture sector adds $2.56 to the state’s economy, according
to a study from California State University, Fresno; and

WHEREAS, Children in California face chronic diet-related
public health challenges, including food insecurity and childhood
obesity, and the California Endowment states that improvements
to the school food environment “are resulting in healthier behaviors
among students”; and

WHEREAS, Growing evidence demonstrates an association
between nutrition and academic performance, and California
children will benefit from understanding where their food comes
from and how it reaches the table; and

WHEREAS, Understanding where food comes from and how
it gets to the table encourages ecological knowledge and aligns
with state and national education standards; and

WHEREAS, Research and local success stories indicate that
improving food quality increases meal program participation and
revenue; and

WHEREAS, “California Thursdays” is a bite-sized
implementation program to improve school food systems in order
to improve student health and academic achievement, local and
state economies, and the environment, creating a “triple win”; and

WHEREAS, “California Thursdays” has received grants from
the Department of Food and Agriculture, the United States
Department of Agriculture Farm to School Program, and the
California Endowment, along with major ongoing support from
TomKat Charitable Trust; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly proclaims April 23, 2015, as “California Thursday” in
the State of California; commends the Center for Ecoliteracy and
participating school districts for advancing student health and
academic achievement, investing in California agriculture and
California’s economy, and benefiting the state’s environment; and
urges all California schools to participate in “California
Thursdays”; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.