BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1321
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 1321
(Ting) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Nutrition Incentive Matching Grant Program.
SUMMARY: This bill establishes the Nutrition Incentive Matching
Grant (NIMG) Program in the Office of Farm to Fork (OF2F), creates a
NIMG account and requires OF2F to establish minimum standards,
funding schedules and grant procedures for the NIMG program.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the NIMG program within OF2F for the purpose of
encouraging the buying and eating of California fruit, nuts and
vegetables.
2)Defines the following:
a) Nutrition benefit client (NBC) means a person who receives
services or payments through any of the following:
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i) California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC), as described in current state
law;
ii) CalWORKS program, as described in current state law;
iii) CalFresh, as described in current state law;
iv) Implementation of the federal WIC Farmers' Market
Nutrition Act of 1992;
v) The Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, as current
United State law; or,
vi) Supplemental Security Income or State Supplementary
Payment, as current United State law.
b) Defines a qualified entity as:
i) A certified farmers' market, an association of certified
producers, or a nonprofit organization representing a
collective or association of certified producers, as
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specified; or,
ii) A small business that sells California grown fresh
fruits, nuts, and vegetables and is authorized to accept
nutrition benefits from any of the programs uses by NBC, as
specified.
c) Defines a consumer incentive program (CIP) to mean a program
administered by a qualified entity that doubles the purchasing
value of a NBC's benefits when the benefits are used to purchase
California fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
3)Creates the NIMG account within OF2F to collect matching funds from
federal grant programs, and other public and private sources.
4)Requires OF2F to provide and administer grants under the NIMG
program in accordance with the following:
a) Requires, subject to federal regulation and state
appropriations, funds in the NIMG account be awarded by grants
to qualified entities for a CIP;
b) Requires OF2F to establish minimum standards, funding
schedules and procedures for awarding grants, in consultation
with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and
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other specified parties of interest, as specified;
i) Requires OF2F to not spend more than one-third of NIMG
programs funds on CIP.
c) Requires OF2F to prioritize the awarding of NIMGs based on,
but not limited to, the following:
i) Known demographic information as follows:
(1) The NBC in an area;
(2) The prevalence of diabetes, obesity or other diet
related diseases; and,
(3) The availability of fresh fruits, nuts and
vegetables.
ii) Demonstrated skill in administering a CIP; and,
iii) Areas where the current population is not being served a
CIP.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes OF2F within the Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA), to work with various entities involved in promoting food
access, and to increase the amount of agricultural products
available to schools and underserved communities in the state.
2)Requires OF2F to identify urban and rural communities that lack
access to healthy food, and to coordinate with local, state, and
federal agencies to promote and increase awareness of programs that
promote greater food access.
3)Creates the Farm to Fork Account in the CDFA Fund consisting of
money made available from federal, state, industry, and other
sources, and would continuously appropriate the money deposited in
the account to carry out the purposes of OF2F.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW:
1)Establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
formerly the food stamp program, administered by USDA, which
imposes specified rules on specified program participants and
limits benefits based on those rules.
2)Establishes state grants for programs that supplement nutrition
benefits that are spent on products at farmers' markets, based upon
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specified criteria.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed Fiscal by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS: The California Market Match (MM) program was launched in
2009 to encourage low-income families receiving benefits through SNAP
to purchase fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables at farmers'
markets. The program "matches" or doubles the amount of benefits
these families can spend and has expanded operations to over 150
farmers' markets across California and increased the spending power
of 37,000 families.
According to the author, strong demand for MM often outstrips
available funding for the program. The 2014 federal Farm Bill
included $100 million in grant funding for programs such as Market
Match that incentivize healthier eating amongst SNAP recipients. In
order to best position local programs to receive these federal
grants, this bill creates a state NIMG Program to apply for federal
funds and award them to local MM programs with a proven record of
success. Establishing a state framework to oversee funding of MM
programs would leverage state resources to streamline local program
administration, and expand MM programs across a more equitable
cross-section of communities that lack access to fresh produce.
One of the co-sponsors of this bill, Roots of Change, explained how
they used $1.9 million in CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant money, and
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nearly $300,000 in philanthropic funds from 2009 to 2013, to create
the California MM pilot program. The MM pilot program has expanded
market opportunities for specialty crop farmers. Supporters state
that community-based partners operated in 23 counties to implement MM
programs in 150 markets in 2014. Currently, the incentive match
funds used to increase purchasing power are derived from
philanthropic sources only and are therefore limited in scope.
Supporters state the goal of this bill is to assist the state in
leveraging federal dollars to increase specialty crop sales among
low-income Californians.
The author states that California is uniquely positioned to benefit
from greater proliferation of programs such as MM. California grows
over 400 commodities and produces nearly half of US-grown fruits,
nuts and vegetables. There are approximately 700 certified Farmers'
Markets and 2,200 certified producers in California. Furthermore,
the author stresses that California has a persistent poverty problem
to solve. 24% of Californians live in poverty and is ranked 50th in
the rate of participation in SNAP. Scaling up MM programs would
create an incentive for more families to utilize their SNAP benefits
and ensure more Californians can afford to eat what is grown locally.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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Ecology Center (co-sponsor)
Roots of Change (co-sponsor)
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
(co-sponsor)
Public Health Institute (co-sponsor)
Agricultural Commissioner of the City/County
of San Francisco
Agricultural Institute of Marin
Agriculture and Land-based Training Association
AltaMed Health Services Corporation
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
American Heart Association
American Stroke Association
Ashland Cherryland Food Policy Council
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Berkeley Food Institute
Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach
California Alliance of Farmers' Markets
California Association of Food Banks
California Black Health Network
California Certified Organic Farmers
California Commission on Aging
California Convergence
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Food Policy Advocates
California Food Policy Council
California Hunger Action Coalition
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
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California Partnership
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Center for Food Safety
City of Santa Monica
City of Santa Monica's Farmers' Market Program
Coastside Farmers' Markets
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Community Food and Justice Coalition
County of Yolo
CUESA
Cultiva La Salud
Enrich LA
Feeding America San Diego
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First 5 LA
Food Chain Workers Alliance
Food for People, Food Bank for Humboldt County
Hunger Action Los Angeles
Hunger Advocacy Network
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Community Action Network
Los Angeles Food Policy Council
Madera County Agricultural Commissioner
Natural Resources Defense Council
North Coast Growers' Association
Orange County Food Access Coalition
Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association
Plumas-Sierra Community Food Council
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PolicyLink
Prevention Institute
Project Angel Food
San Diego Hunger Coalition
San Francisco Food Security Task Force
San Francisco Unified School District
San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance
Santa Barbara Food Alliance
Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner
Sebastopol Farmers Market
SF-Marin Food Bank
Slow Food California
Social Justice Learning Institute
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Sprouts of Promise Foundation
SPUR
St. Anthony Foundation
Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food & Activity Environments
Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles
Sustainable Economies Law Center
Thai Community Development Center
The Farmers Guild
UC San Diego, Department of Pediatrics Center for Community Health
United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Western States Council
United Way of Kern County
Urban & Environment Policy Institute
Volunteers of East Los Angeles
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Wellington Square Certified Farmers Market
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Western Growers
Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge & Services
Yolo County Ag & Food Alliance
Opposition
None of file
Analysis Prepared by:Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084
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