BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2720
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
AB 2720 (John A. Perez) - As Introduced: February 19, 2010
SUBJECT : Public health: food justice.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA), by July 1, 2011, to make recommendations to
the Legislature, after consultation with the State Department of
Public Health (DPH) and the State Department of Social Services
(DSS), on actions needed to promote food justice with
California.
EXISTING LAW makes the legislative determination that the
provisions of the statutes of the Food and Agricultural Code
(FAC) are to exercise the power of this state for the purpose of
promoting and protecting the agricultural industry of the state,
and for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare.
(FAC Section 3)
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed "fiscal" by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS : There has been an increasing problem within urban and
rural communities in California, and nation-wide, to maintain
the access to grocery stores and the availability of fresh
produce, creating what is called "food deserts." To this end,
the Obama Administration released details of an over $400
million Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), which will
help bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to
underserved urban and rural communities across the nation. The
HFFI is a partnership between the federal Departments of the
Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services.
HFFI will promote a range of interventions that expand access to
nutritious foods, including developing and equipping grocery
stores and other small businesses and retailers selling healthy
food in communities that currently lack these options.
Residents of these communities, which are sometimes called food
deserts, and are often found in economically distressed areas,
are typically served by fast food restaurants and convenience
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stores that offer little or no fresh produce. Lack of healthy,
affordable food options can lead to higher levels of obesity and
other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease,
and cancer.
Through this new multi-year HFFI, and by engaging with the
private sector, the Obama Administration intends to work toward
eliminating food deserts across the country within seven years.
The first year of funding proposes to leverage enough
investments to begin expanding healthy foods options into as
many as one-fifth of the nation's food deserts, and create
thousands of jobs in urban and rural communities across the
nation.
The HFFI appears to be modeled after the Pennsylvania Fresh Food
Financing Initiative (FFFI) that the Pennsylvania Legislature
created in 2006. FFFI is an innovative program that increases
the number of supermarkets and grocery stores in underserved
communities across the state of Pennsylvania. Developed as a
public-private partnership, FFFI serves the financing needs of
operators located or locating in communities where
infrastructure costs and credit needs are not met by
conventional financial institutions to increase the availability
of fresh food in low-income neighborhoods. FFFI uses market
analysis, leveraged capital, and public policy to stimulate
supermarket development. Investing in quality food markets in
underserved communities directly benefits low- and
moderate-income communities.
Pennsylvania appropriated $30 million over three years to the
program; The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), an investment company, has
leveraged the investment to create a $120 million fund for
financing the FFFI. As of December 2009, FFFI has helped
finance 83 supermarket projects in 34 Pennsylvania counties,
ranging in size from 900 to 69,000 square feet. In total, these
projects are expected to create or retain 5,000 jobs and more
than 1.6 million square feet of food retail.
FFFI is designed to meet the financing needs of supermarket
operators that want to operate in these communities, to help new
supermarkets get off the ground and existing ones to refurbish
and replace old capital to improve efficiency and lower costs.
FFFI provides grants and loans to qualified food retail
enterprises for predevelopment costs including, but not limited
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to, land acquisition financing, equipment financing, capital
grants for project funding gaps, construction and permanent
finance, and workforce development.
TRF also offers stores technical assistance and financing to
support energy efficiency and conservation measures. FFFI has
become a $120 million one-stop-shop for financing fresh food
retailers in underserved areas.
On April 14, 2010, Congressman Joe Baca (D-CA), Chairman of the
House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee (Subcommittee) on
Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry, held a
hearing on access to healthy food and programs and proposals
that can expand the availability of healthy food in areas with
limited access. The Subcommittee heard testimony from officials
with the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as
from a prominent chef, a nutritionist, and from witnesses who
have developed innovative and successful initiatives to expand
access to healthy food in underserved areas.
One witness, Mr. Randall Wattermann, of the Nebraska Food
Cooperative, is using the internet as the basis for a new farmer
co-op model to bring fresh products to consumers. Mr. Jeffrey
Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Brown's Super Stores, Inc., is
providing new job opportunities and healthier food choices
through an innovative grocery business model. Ms. Diana
Endicott, from Good Natured Family Farms, has created
collaboration among 150 farm families developing new markets for
fresh local produce.
According to the author, AB 2720 is intended to coordinate the
efforts to maximize HFFI in California; as such, it is a
work-in-progress as they continue to receive suggestions and
comments on potential amendments. It is anticipated that should
AB 2720 pass this Committee, it is likely to be amended in the
Assembly Committee on Appropriations to address the suggestions
by industry and others.
Preliminary concepts for the amendments are as follows:
1)Findings and declarations are to be expanded to include:
a) Acknowledging the importance of protecting our
productive farmlands for future generations;
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b) Acknowledging that access to healthy food items is a
basic human right and lack of healthy, affordable food
options can result in higher levels of obesity and other
diet-related diseases. Communities where access to
affordable, high quality, and nutritious foods is limited
are known as food deserts; and,
c) Opportunities for increasing the number of grocery
stores, urban farm stands, farmers' markets, and direct
farmer to consumer marketing activities in underserved
communities should be actively pursued and fostered to
ensure all Californians have access to healthy foods.
2)Direct CDFA, in consultation with the State DPH and DSS, to
coordinate the effort to maximize the funding opportunities
provided by the federal 2010 HFFI. This national initiative
contains $400 million in annual funding and is intended to
expand access to nutritious foods in underserved urban and
rural communities and eliminate food deserts across the
country within seven years.
RELATED LEGISLATION : AB 2726 (Leno), Chapter 466, Statutes of
2008. Extended the sunset date of DPH's Healthy Food Purchase
pilot program from January 1, 2011, to January 1, 2013, and
authorizes DPH to implement the pilot program by July 1, 2009,
to the extent that the Department of Finance determines that
sufficient funds are available from any source, as specified.
AB 2384 (Leno), Chapter 236, Statutes of 2006, established the
"Healthy Food Purchase" pilot program, not to exceed seven
counties, to increase the sale and purchase of fresh fruits and
vegetables in low-income communities.
Congressional House Resolution 4971 (Ms. Kaptur of Ohio),
proposes to increase the emphasis on urban agricultural issues
in the United States Department of Agriculture (Department)
through the establishment of a new office to ensure that
Department authorities are used to effectively encourage local
agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh
food in urban areas, particularly underserved communities
experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, food insecurity,
and for other purposes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 2720
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Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084