BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 234


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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS


          AB  
          234 (Gordon)


          As Amended  September 4, 2015


          Majority vote


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          |ASSEMBLY:  |      | (May 11,      |SENATE: |27-13 | (September 10,  |
          |           |62-10 |2015)          |        |      |2015)            |
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          Original Committee Reference:  HEALTH


          SUMMARY:  Revises provisions of law governing community food  
          producers or gleaners by allowing them to sell whole uncut  
          fruits or vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to  
          a permitted food facility, not just a restaurant, and limits the  
          ability of a local environmental health officer to require  
          community food producers or gleaners to register with the local  
          enforcement entity only if the food producers or gleaners do not  
          meet certain conditions.


          The Senate amendments:


          1)Eliminate the ability of a local jurisdiction to adopt an  
            ordinance prohibiting a community food producer or gleaner  
            from selling or providing whole uncut fruits or vegetables, or  
            unrefrigerated shell eggs, directly to the public or to food  
            facilities.








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          2)Restrict the ability of a local health enforcement agency to  
            require a community food producer to be registered with the  
            local enforcement agency, unless otherwise authorized by a  
            locally adopted ordinance, by prohibiting registration if the  
            community food producer does not meet any of the following  
            conditions:


             a)   Produce is sold on the premises controlled by the  
               community food producer;


             b)   Produce is donated to a food bank or food kitchen that  
               is registered or permitted by a federal, state, or local  
               health agency; or


             c)   Produce is sold in a food facility permitted by a  
               federal, state, or local health agency.


          3)Specify conditions under which a gleaner may sell directly to  
            the public or donate to a food bank without requiring  
            registration with the local health enforcement agency. 


          4)Incorporate amendments to Health and Safety Code Section  
            113789 proposed by this bill, AB 226 (Atkins) of the current  
            legislative session, and AB 143 (Wood), Chapter 164, Statutes  
            of 2015, which was recently signed by the Governor.  


          AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill expanded from "restaurant"  
          to the more general "food facility" the type of facility to  
          which a community food producer (CFP) or gleaner can sell  
          fruits, vegetables, or eggs.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.








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          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 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.











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          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 opposes this bill  
          unless all reference to "unrefrigerated shell eggs" is removed  
          from this bill.  They believe that this bill does not adequately  
          ensure that food safety standards are met for eggs.  They argue  
          that under this legislation, 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: 0002267














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