BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 384
---------------------------------------------------------------
|AUTHOR: |Perea |
|---------------+-----------------------------------------------|
|VERSION: |February 18, 2015 |
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
|HEARING DATE: |July 8, 2015 | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
|CONSULTANT: |Vince Marchand |
---------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT : Food safety.
SUMMARY : Eliminates the January 1, 2016, sunset date on provisions of
law establishing a $100 food safety fee on registered food
processors, which supports education and training programs
related to food safety, thereby making this program permanent.
Existing law:
1)Requires every person engaged in the manufacture, packing, or
holding of any processed food to have a valid registration
from the Department of Public Health (DPH), establishes a fee
schedule for food registration permits based on the size of
the facility and the number of employees, and requires this
registration to be renewed annually.
2)Requires every person who is engaged in the manufacture,
packing, or holding of processed food to pay a food safety fee
of $100 to DPH in addition to the annual registration fee for
food processors.
3)Requires the food safety fee revenue to be used by DPH to
assist in developing and implementing education and training
programs related to food safety. Requires these programs to be
developed in consultation with representatives of the food
processing industry, and to include education and training in
the prevention of microbial contamination.
4)Exempts from the food safety fee requirements companies that
are exclusively involved in flour milling, dried bean
processing, or in the drying or milling of rice, or to those
individuals whose gross annual income from the registered food
processing business is $20,000 or less and DPH has determined
the fee would result in substantial economic hardship.
AB 384 (Perea) Page 2 of ?
5)Sunsets the provisions of law establishing a food safety fee
on January 1, 2016.
This bill: Eliminates the January 1, 2016, sunset date on
provisions of law which establish a $100 food safety fee that
registered food processors are required to pay in addition to
annual registration fees, and which require DPH to use the
resulting funds to develop and implement a food safety education
and training programs, thereby making this food safety program
permanent.
FISCAL
EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
$640,000 in annual fee revenue (Food Safety Fund) will continue
to fund three DPH staff and activities in the food safety
training and education program.
PRIOR
VOTES :
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Assembly Floor: |78 - 2 |
|------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |17 - 0 |
|------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|Assembly Health Committee: |17 - 0 |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement. According to the author, this bill is an
industry supported bill that makes permanent a fee that is
used by DPH to fund an education and training program for food
processors. This program deals with sanitation and
contamination prevention methods and has been proven to be
effective in reducing cross contamination by food processors.
Due to this success, the food processors want to make the
funding of the program permanent, so they have asked to have
the fee sunset date deleted.
2)Background. The food safety program that is being made
permanent by this bill was established by AB 1559 (Cardoza,
Chapter 727, Statutes of 1997). According to the Senate Health
and Human Services Committee analysis of that bill, AB 1559
AB 384 (Perea) Page 3 of ?
was sponsored by the California League of Food Processors
after several dramatic news stories highlighted the issue of
contaminated foods, and microbiological contamination had even
reached some "low-risk" food products leading to isolated
cases of illness. The $100 fee was not a new fee, but rather a
re-direction of an existing $100 fee that food processors had
been paying to the Department of Pesticide Regulation for
pesticide regulation and research. Recent training programs
offered by DPH's Food and Drug Branch include courses on food
labeling, current good manufacturing practices, and food
recalls. These courses and other courses are offered for free
to registered food processors.
3)Prior legislation. AB 2612 (Committee on Agriculture, Chapter
393, Statutes of 2010), among other provisions, extended the
sunset on the food safety fee to January 1, 2016.
AB 1081 (Mathews, Chapter 401, Statutes of 2005), among other
provisions, extended the sunset on the food safety fee to
January 1, 2011.
AB 2981 (Committee on Agriculture, Chapter 535, Statutes of
2002), among other provisions, extended the sunset on the food
safety fee to January 1, 2006.
AB 1548 (Cardoza, Chapter 915, Statutes of 1999), among other
provisions, extended the sunset on the food safety fee to
January 1, 2003.
AB 1559 (Cardoza, Chapter 727, Statutes of 1997), established
the food safety program within DPH, and required a $100 food
safety fee to be paid by food processors to support the food
safety program.
4)Support. According to the author, this bill is sponsored by
the California League of Food Processors (CLFP), which states
the Food Industry Education and Training Program, administered
by DPH, provides food safety education and training to
registered food processors to reduce preventable foodborne
illnesses and injuries and to assist California food
processors in improving their operations. CLFP states that it
supports the $100 food safety fee that is assessed on food
processors to fund this program, and believes that it is a
successful collaboration between industry and government. The
California Chamber of Commerce states in support that the food
AB 384 (Perea) Page 4 of ?
safety program has been highly effective at providing
multi-lingual training to food processing workers on the
basics of food safety, sanitation, and best management
practices, and supports the purpose of this bill to remove the
sunset date which will allow DPH to continue collecting the
$100 food safety fee on a permanent basis. The American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees states in
support that in order to improve and ensure the health of
Californians, it is imperative to invest in education and
training programs related to food safety.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California League of Food Processors (sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Chamber of Commerce
Morning Star Company
Oppose: None received
-- END --