BILL NUMBER: AB 537	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 18, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 17, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 28, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 25, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 23, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Arambula
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Caballero and Solorio)

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Section 10072.1 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to public benefits.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 537, as amended, Arambula. Farmers' markets: electronic benefit
transfers.
   Existing law, administered by the State Department of Social
Services, provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic
benefit transfer (EBT) system for the purpose of providing financial
and food assistance benefits to needy Californians.
   This bill would allow an interested collective group or
association of produce sellers  that is Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) authorized and  in a flea market, farmers' market,
or certified farmers' market  or its designated Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) authorized agent  to initiate and
operate an EBT acceptance system in the market, as specified. The
bill would provide that an individual produce seller in a market is
not prohibited from operating his or her own individual EBT
acceptance activity as part of that seller's personal business
customer transaction offering.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 10072.1 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:
   10072.1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that flea
markets, farmers' markets, and certified farmers' markets are
important sources of low-cost produce for Californians in need of
food assistance.
   (b) (1) An interested collective group or association of produce
sellers  that is Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) authorized and
 actively participating in produce sales in a market described
in subdivision (a)  or its designated Food and Nutrition
Services (FNS) authorized agent  may initiate and operate an
electronic benefit transfer (EBT) acceptance system on behalf of its
members, to the extent and manner allowed by federal law and
regulation. The market operator shall allow and accommodate the
FNS-authorized group or association in a reasonable manner that aids
in the creation, implementation, and operation of its EBT acceptance
system. The allowance and accommodation by the market operator
mandated by this section is limited solely to the activity of the
operation of the EBT acceptance system by the group or association.
No other activities are authorized without the express permission of
the market operator.
   (2) This subdivision shall not apply to a market described in
subdivision (a) that currently or subsequently operates an EBT
acceptance system.
   (c) Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall
prohibit an individually FNS-authorized produce seller in a market
described in subdivision (a) from operating his or her own individual
EBT acceptance activity as part of that seller's personal business
customer transaction offering.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to require a
market described in subdivision (a) to itself create, operate, or
maintain an EBT acceptance system on behalf of its produce sellers.