BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1577


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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS


          AB  
          1577 (Eggman)


          As Amended  August 10, 2016


          Majority vote


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          |ASSEMBLY:  |80-0  |(June 1, 2016) |SENATE: | 39-0 |(August 22,      |
          |           |      |               |        |      |2016)            |
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          |           |      |               |        |      |                 |
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          Original Committee Reference:  REV. & TAX.


          SUMMARY:  Renames the State Emergency Food Assistance Program  
          (SEFAP) as the CalFood Program and the SEFAP Account as the  
          CalFood Account.


          The Senate amendments:


          1)Strike provisions that would have expanded the existing tax  
            credit program under the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Law and  
            Corporation Tax (CT) Law for contributions of qualified  
            donation items to a food bank and extended the program until  
            January 1, 2022.


          2)Add chaptering out language with AB 1747 (Weber) of the  
            current legislative session.









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          EXISTING LAW:


          1)Requires the State Department of Social Services (DSS) to  
            establish and administer the SEFAP to provide food and funding  
            for the provision of emergency food to food banks.  
          2)Establishes the SEFAP Account from which money is allocated,  
            upon appropriation by the Legislature, to DSS for allocation  
            to the SEFAP to be used for the purchase, storage, and  
            transportation of food grown or produced in California.


          AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:


          1)Broadened the definition of a "qualified taxpayer" to include  
            persons responsible for growing or raising a qualified  
            donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a  
            qualified donation item. 


          2)Expanded the definition of "qualified donation item" (QDI) to  
            include, in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, the  
            following raw agricultural products and processed foods, as  
            specified:


             a)   "Fruit, nuts or vegetables" as defined in Food and  
               Agricultural Code (F&AC) Section 42510;


             b)   "Meat food product" as defined in F&AC Section 18665;


             c)   "Poultry" as defined in F&AC Section 18675;


             d)   "Eggs" as defined in F&AC Section 75027;


             e)   "Fish" as defined in F&AC Section 58609; and,








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             f)   All of the following food items as defined in Health and  
               Safety Code (H&SC) Section 109935: 


                  i)        Rice; 


                  ii)       Beans; 


                  iii)      Fruit, nuts, and vegetables in canned, frozen,  
                    dried, dehydrated, and 100% juice forms;


                  iv)       Any cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, or  
                    dehydrated milk meeting the requirements in Division  
                    15 (commencing with Section 32501) of the F∾


                  v)        Vegetable oil and olive oil; 


                  vi)       Soup, pasta sauce, and salsa;


                  vii)      Infant formula subject to H&SC Section  
                    114094.5;


                  viii)     Bread and pasta; and,


                  ix)       Canned meats and canned seafood. 


          3)Provided that the allowed credit would be calculated, not  
            according to inventory costs, but rather as 10% of the  
            qualified value of the QDI. 










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          4)Defined "qualified value" as either of the following:


             a)   The weighted average wholesale sale price based on the  
               qualified taxpayer's total like grade wholesale sales of  
               the donated item sold within the calendar month of the  
               qualified taxpayer's donation; or,


             b)   The nearest regional wholesale market price for the  
               calendar month of the donation based upon the same grade  
               products as published by the United States Department of  
               Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service, or its  
               successor.  This qualified value may be used only if no  
               wholesale sales of the donated item have occurred in the  
               calendar month of the qualified taxpayer's donation.  


          5)Provided that the credit amount may not be less than what  
            would otherwise be available as per existing law - AB 152  
            (Fuentes), Chapter 503, of the Statutes of 2011. 


          6)Required the donor to provide the food bank the qualified  
            value and information regarding where the donation items were  
            grown and/or processed.  


          7)Provided that, upon receipt and acceptance of the donations,  
            the food bank is required to sign and provide to the donor a  
            certificate, which shall include certain information, as  
            specified, including the acceptance, grade, origin and  
            qualified value of the donated items. 


          8)Required the Franchise Tax Board to include in its annual  
            report to the Legislature, among other things, the estimated  
            value and the origin of the QDIs.  


          9)Required a qualified taxpayer to claim the credit only on a  
            timely filed original return. 








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          10)     Extended the tax credit program until January 1, 2022,  
            and repealed it on December 1, 2022.


          11)     Renamed the SEFAP as the CalFood Program, effective on  
            or after January 1, 2017.


          12)     Specified the goals, purpose and objective of this tax  
            credit program as well as the performance indicators, data  
            collection requirements and baseline measurements, as required  
            by Revenue and Taxation Code Section 41. 


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 77.2, negligible state costs.  



          COMMENTS:  


          1)Food Banks and Food Insecurity.  According to the California  
            Association of Food Banks' (CAFB) Web site, California has a  
            food insecurity rate of 13.5%, translating into 5.2 million  
            Californians, or on average one out of seven people in  
            California, not knowing from where their next meal will  
            come.  All the more troubling is that the child food  
            insecurity rate is 25.1%, meaning that 2.3 million children,  
            or more than one in four children in California, may go to  
            bed hungry each night.  


            In 2011, a state tax credit program was enacted into law to  
            allow a qualified taxpayer, under both the PIT and CT laws,  
            a tax credit in an amount equal to 10% of the inventory  
            costs of the fresh fruits or fresh vegetables donated to  
            food banks located in California.  (AB 152 (Fuentes),  
            Chapter 503, Statutes of 2011.)  AB 152 also created a  
            direct grant program, SEFAP, to provide food and funding to  








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            food banks.  According to the CAFB, each $1 million  
            appropriated to the SEFAP would enable California food banks  
            to offer roughly five million meals to individuals.   
            Furthermore, SEFAP funds must be used to purchase and  
            distribute foods grown or produced in California, benefiting  
            California's agricultural sector.  


          2)Purpose of This Bill.  As originally approved by the Assembly,  
            this bill revised and extended the state tax credit program  
            for taxpayers donating fresh fruits and vegetables to food  
            banks.  However, these provisions were incorporated into the  
            enacted fiscal year 2016-17 California State Budget.  As such,  
            this bill was amended to delete its tax provisions, with only  
            the provisions of this bill that rename the SEFAP program  
            remaining.
            According to the author, it is necessary to rename the SEFAP  
            to prevent confusion with the California Food Assistance  
            Program (CFAP), which sound identical when pronounced as  
            acronyms.  Renaming the SEFAP as the CalFood Program would  
            better align it with the standard naming convention for other  
            California programs, such as CalWORKS and CalFresh, while  
            further conveying the intent of the program. 




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Oksana Jaffe, Irene Ho / REV. & TAX. / (916)  
          319-2098          FN: 0004087                     
                                :                                          Click here to  
          enter text. 


















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