BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1747| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1747 Author: Weber (D), et al. Amended: 6/30/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/22/16 AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 4-1, 6/28/16 AYES: McGuire, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen NOES: Berryhill SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-7, 6/2/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Food assistance: higher education students SOURCE: Hunger Advocacy Network of San Diego University of California Student Association Western Center on Law and Poverty Young Invincibles DIGEST: This bill requires each public and private postsecondary education institution that is located in a county that participates in the Restaurant Meals Program to apply to become an approved food vendor for participation in this program. AB 1747 Page 2 ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the CalFresh program which administers the federal SNAP benefit program for families and individuals meeting income and other eligibility criteria. (Welfare and Institutions Code § 18900, et seq.) 2)Establishes the Restaurant Meals Program within the SNAP program to allow eligible homeless, disabled or elderly SNAP (CalFresh in California) recipients to purchase hot, prepared food from participating restaurants. (United States Code, Title 7, § 2020) This bill: 1)Requires each public and private postsecondary education institution that is located in a county that participates in the Restaurant Meals Program to do all of the following: a) Apply to become an approved food vendor for the Restaurant Meals Program, if the institution operates any qualifying food facility on campus. b) Annually provide all on-campus food vendors not operated by the institution with information regarding the Restaurant Meals Program and the manner in which to apply. c) If an on-campus food vendor has been approved to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program, annually inform students about the program using information provided by the Department of Social Services. 2)Provides that this bill does not require an institution to create, operate, or maintain an electronic benefits transfer system on behalf of on-campus food vendors. 3)Requires approved food vendors and counties participating in the Restaurant Meals Program to meet the requirements of the Restaurant Meals Program. 4)Establishes the Public Higher Education Pantry Assistance AB 1747 Page 3 Program Account in the existing Emergency Food Assistance Fund, and requires funds in the pantry account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Department of Social Services for allocation to food banks that meet both of the following criteria: a) The primary function of the food bank is the distribution of food to low-income households. b) The food bank has identified specific costs associated with supporting on-campus pantry and hunger relief efforts serving low-income students. c) Requires the Department of Social Services, subject to the approval of the state's outreach plan by the United States Department of Agriculture, to act as the state entity for receipt of federal reimbursement if a private non-profit organization, public postsecondary educational institution, or other state or local agency secures funds for CalFresh outreach activities that are allowable for partial federal reimbursement. Comments Who is eligible to be served? The Restaurant Meals Program is restricted to people who are elderly, homeless, or disabled. This bill does not expand eligibility for the Restaurant Meals Program to students who are not elderly, homeless, or disabled. Staff understands that eligibility is determined by the federal United States Department of Agriculture, and therefore state statute cannot expand eligibility for the Restaurant Meals Program to students who are not elderly, homeless, or disabled. As a result, this bill applies only to individuals (including students) who are elderly, homeless, or disabled. This bill does not limit participation in the Restaurant Meals Program on postsecondary education campuses to eligible students. Therefore, all eligible recipients (elderly, homeless, or disabled), regardless of whether or not the recipient is a student on that campus, would be able to access the approved food facilities on campuses. Senate Education Committee staff notes that a member of the general public may currently access a food facility on a campus without being a student, faculty or employee of that campus. AB 1747 Page 4 This bill does not modify or expand eligibility for CalFresh; a person accessing a Restaurant Meals Program on a postsecondary education campus would have to be enrolled in CalFresh. Restaurant Meals Program. The Restaurant Meals Program is an option within the SNAP program to allow eligible elderly, homeless, or disabled SNAP (CalFresh in California) recipients to purchase hot, prepared food from participating restaurants. Participation in the Restaurant Meals Program by a county is voluntary, and requires a county that wishes to participate to submit a proposal for approval to the California Department of Social Services. Restaurants that apply to participate in this program must meet specific requirements, including entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the county to delineate the responsibilities of each entity. There are currently only six counties in California that have chosen to participate: Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties. A participating county must specific requirements, including entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the food vendor to delineate the responsibilities of each entity. Existing efforts on public campuses. The University of California (UC) launched the Global Food Initiative, and in March 2015, the President of the UC allocated $75,000 per campus to support the effort. As part of the first phase, UC Global Food Initiative working groups are developing best practices, and the toolkits to implement them, that, once successfully deployed systemwide at UC, can be offered to schools and communities nationwide. Many UC campuses have food pantries and partner with local food banks. The Chancellor of the California State University (CSU) commissioned a study to shed light on how CSU campuses were meeting the needs of displaced and food insecure students and to offer recommendations to ensure success and graduation for these students. The study found, among others, that student survey results showed 24% of students expressing they had food insecurities; 11 campuses had programs for food insecure students, ranging from small food pantries to large programs and services; five campuses incorporate students' needs as part of student success directives and the university mission; and, AB 1747 Page 5 students who experienced food and/or housing instability reported high levels of stress and the need for single points of contact. [http://www.calstate.edu/acadaff/documents/serving displacedandfoodinsecurestudetnsinthecsujanuary20163.8.16.pdf] It appears there is no systemwide coordinated effort to help combat student food insecurities issues at the California Community Colleges (CCC); however, some CCC campuses have various activities in place to address the needs of the students. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes SUPPORT: (Verified8/2/16) Hunger Advocacy Network of San Diego (co-source) University of California Student Association (co-source) Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-source) Young Invincibles (co-source) Alameda County Community Food Bank American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees California Association of Food Banks California Food Policy Advocates California State University Feeding America San Diego Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Hunger Action Los Angeles National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter OPPOSITION: (Verified8/2/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-7, 6/2/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, AB 1747 Page 6 Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Travis Allen, Grove, Harper, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Beth Gaines, Steinorth Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105 8/3/16 18:49:57 **** END ****