BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1321 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1321 (Ting) As Amended June 1, 2015 Majority vote ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------| |Agriculture |7-1 |Perea, Cooper, Dodd, |Mathis | | | |Eggman, Irwin, | | | | |Quirk, Salas | | | | | | | |----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------| |Appropriations |12-1 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow | | | |Calderon, Daly, | | | | |Eggman, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Eduardo Garcia, | | | | |Gordon, Holden, | | | | |Quirk, Rendon, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Establishes the Nutrition Incentive Matching Grant (NIMG) Program in the Office of Farm to Fork (OF2F), creates a AB 1321 Page 2 NIMG account and requires OF2F to establish minimum standards, funding schedules and grant procedures for the NIMG program. This bill directs the OF2F to solicit grant proposals, score, and award grant funds as specified, and establish standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants in consultation with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This bill also establishes standards for prioritizing grants within the state. EXISTING LAW: 1)Establishes OF2F within the California 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. AB 1321 Page 3 2)Establishes state grants for programs that supplement nutrition benefits that are spent on products at farmers' markets, based upon specified criteria. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill will likely have significant General Fund (GF) costs to CDFA to establish the program, apply for matching grants, solicit proposals, grant funds, and oversee compliance among grant recipients, though the actual amount will depend on the eventual funding and grant applications. Furthermore, this bill has likely, though unknown, initial start-up GF costs, perhaps as high as $2.5 million, to fund grants and apply for the federal match, some or all of which may be repaid with matching funds from grant recipients. Initial funding could be by direct appropriation or included in the budget; however, there is no source of proposed funding currently in the bill. 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 AB 1321 Page 4 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 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. Twenty-four percent 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 Analysis Prepared by: AB 1321 Page 5 Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084 FN: 0000588