BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 143
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
143 (Wood) - As Amended April 16, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill:
AB 143
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1) Expands the types of pre-packaged foods a wine tasting
facility can offer while still being exempt from
requirements governing food facilities, providing parity
between exemptions that exist for beer tasting facilities
and wine tasting facilities.
2) Contains other minor, noncontroversial changes to code
governing food safety.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible state fiscal effect.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill would benefit
thousands of small independent wineries in California by
eliminating the expense of obtaining a local food permit for
wineries that serve nonhazardous food items and/or have small
retail food displays. In addition, it makes minor changes in
the California Retail Food Code (CRFC) to promote statewide
consistency.
2)Background. Food facilities are governed by the California
Retail Food Code (CRFC), which establishes statewide
standards. CRFC rules are enforced by local environmental
health agencies, which charge fees to food facilities for
local regulatory oversight. Current law exempts certain
facility types from the definition of "food facility" and
corresponding oversight, including, for example, private
homes, cottage food operations, institutional facilities that
are regulated by other entities, and wine and beer tasting
premises that meet certain criteria.
AB 143
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3)Related Legislation.
a) AB 226 (Atkins), also being heard today in this
committee, creates fishermen's markets as a type of
nonpermanent food facility.
b) AB 234 (Gordon), pending on the Assembly Floor, allows a
"community food producer" to sell whole uncut fruits or
vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs, to any licensed
food facility if the community food producer follows
certain requirements.
c) AB 724 (Dodd), pending in Assembly Health, revises the
definition of community event to include a district fair,
and requires a temporary food facility that meets certain
criteria to be granted a permit to operate at a community
event.
d) AB 1076 (Mayes), pending in Assembly Health, exempts
from the definition of a food facility, a snack bar
operated by a charitable nonprofit organization and
authorizes snack bars to undertake limited food
preparation, as defined.
e) SB 746 (Wolk), pending on the Senate Floor, exempts,
beginning January 1, 2018, grain milled and sold at the
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park from registration and
other requirements applicable to retail food facilities if
certain conditions are met.
4)Prior Legislation.
AB 143
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a) SB 1235 (Knight), Chapter 927, Statutes of 2014
established exemptions similar to those in this bill for
beer tasting facilities.
b) AB 1014 (Fletcher), Chapter 159, Statutes of 2011,
exempts premises set aside by a beer manufacturer, as
defined, for beer tasting, from the definition of a food
facility, thereby, exempting beer tasting premises from the
provisions of the CRFC.
Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916)
319-2081