BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 234
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
234 (Gordon)
As Introduced February 4, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|----------------+------+-----------------------+--------------------|
|Health |16-1 |Bonta, Maienschein, |Chávez |
| | |Bonilla, Burke, Chiu, | |
| | |Gomez, Gonzalez, | |
| | |Lackey, Nazarian, | |
| | |Patterson, | |
| | |Ridley-Thomas, | |
| | |Rodriguez, Santiago, | |
| | |Steinorth, Thurmond, | |
| | |Wood | |
|----------------+------+-----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |15-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Expands from "restaurant" to the more general "food
facility" the type of facility to which a community food producer
AB 234
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(CFP) or gleaner can sell fruits, vegetables, or eggs.
Specifically, this bill permits a CFP or a gleaner, as these terms
are defined by this bill, unless prohibited by a local
jurisdiction that has adopted an ordinance regulating community
food production, to sell or provide whole uncut fruits or
vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to the public,
to any licensed food facility, or to a cottage food operation if
the CFP meets specific requirements, in addition to any
requirements imposed by a locally adopted ordinance.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS: According to the author, the local agriculture movement
is experiencing burgeoning popularity, and California has become a
trailblazer in progressive food and farm legislation.
Additionally, there has been a dramatic growth in a wide range of
community and urban gardens, as well as locally produced food,
throughout the past decade. These small production sites include
personal gardens, culinary gardens, community gardens, and school
gardens. This bill expands on efforts in recent years to allow
gleaners and CFPs to engage in direct sales of produce to the
public. The author states that this bill is responsive to the
Governor's veto message. By striking the word "restaurant" and
replacing it with "food facility," this bill ensures explicit
clarification as to what entities CFPs are allowed to sell or
provide whole uncut fruit, vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell
eggs to.
Last year, AB 1990 (Gordon), Chapter 580, Statutes of 2014,
defines CFPs and gleaners, and allows CFPs or gleaners to sell or
provide whole uncut fruits or vegetables or unrefrigerated shell
eggs, directly to the public, to a permitted restaurant, or to a
cottage food operation, if the CFP complies with a variety of
health and safety requirements or Best Management Practices
established by CDFA and posted on their Web site. Upon signing AB
1990 in September 2014, Governor Brown issued the following
signing statement: "There is some concern that AB 1990 would
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inadvertently limit the existing paths for producers and gleaners
to sell locally. This is not my intent. The language in this
bill is clearly expansive, not restrictive."
This bill would allow a CFP to sell their product directly to any
type of food facility, instead of just restaurants. This would
include public and private school cafeterias, some licensed health
care facilities, commissaries, mobile food facilities, mobile
support units, and temporary food facilities.
The California Association of Environmental Health Administrators,
sponsor of the bill, supports this work as a continued effort to
facilitate access to healthy foods like fresh fruit and vegetables
for all Californians. They state that in 2012, Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) legislation AB 224 (Gordon) Chapter
404, Statutes of 2013, provided the platform to clarify the
regulation of "community gardens and community supported
agriculture" from a food safety perspective. Then, the statewide
approach in AB 1990 promoted safe community food while recognizing
local land use and zoning authority. By adhering to local land
use zoning requirements, it reduced demands on local governments
to adopt a patchwork quilt of individual local ordinances. It
provided a statewide set of best management practices consistent
with recently enacted cottage food law, AB 1616 (Gatto), Chapter
415, Statutes of 2012 and CSA laws. To remedy this limitation,
this bill will explicitly allow all community food produced in
compliance with these best management practices to be sold at all
retail food facilities by striking the word "restaurant" and
replacing it with "food facility."
The Association of California Egg Farmers oppose this bill, unless
all reference to "unrefrigerated shell eggs" is removed from the
bill. They believe that this bill does not adequately ensure that
food safety standards are met for eggs. They argue that under
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this bill, eggs contaminated with Salmonella could easily make
hundreds, maybe thousands, of Californians sick in just one week.
Analysis Prepared by:
Dharia McGrew / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0000159