BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Elaine K. Alquist, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2720
A
AUTHOR: John A. P?rez, Bass
B
AMENDED: May 12, 2010
HEARING DATE: June 30, 2010
2
CONSULTANT:
7
Orr/cjt
2
0
SUBJECT
Public health: food access
SUMMARY
Requires the California Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA), by July 1, 2011, to make recommendations to the
Legislature, after consultation with the California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California
Department of Social Services (CDSS), on actions needed to
promote food access within California and to maximize
funding opportunities provided by the federal 2010 Healthy
Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). Further, recasts the
"Healthy Food Purchase" pilot program to maximize available
federal funds and authorizes CDPH to award grants and
in-kind support to nonprofits to encourage the sale and
consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables until January 1,
2015.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing state law:
Existing law requires, until January 1, 2013, the
California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in
conjunction with the Department of Food and Agriculture. to
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2720 (John A. P?rez, Bass)
Page 2
develop a "Healthy Food Purchase" pilot program, in no more
than seven counties, to increase the sale and purchase of
fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income communities, as
specified. The department must also develop a process for
evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot, and contract
with an independent external evaluator to conduct the
evaluation.
Requires the department to use specific criteria for
choosing the counties to be considered in the pilot
program.
Specifies that the department shall apply for available
federal matching funds to support the pilot, and that no
General Fund monies shall be used to fund the program.
This bill:
Revises the "Healthy Food Purchase" pilot program to
require CDPH to utilize the maximum amount of federal funds
available to further the purposes of the program, including
federal funds made available pursuant to the federal Food,
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Extends the pilot
program to January 1, 2015.
Authorizes the department to award grants and provide
in-kind support to nonprofit corporations to encourage the
sale and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, as
specified. Requires an evaluation to assess the
effectiveness of combining strategies to increase fresh
fruits and vegetable offerings with strategies for
increasing affordability.
Deletes the limit of seven counties, and deletes specific
criteria the department must use in considering counties
for the pilot program.
Requires, by July 1, 2011, the Department of Food and
Agriculture, in consultation with the CDPH and the DSS, to
provide recommendations to the Legislature regarding
actions that need to be taken to promote food access within
the state. It would also require the Department of Food and
Agriculture to coordinate efforts to maximize the funding
opportunities provided by the federal 2010 Healthy Food
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2720 (John A. P?rez, Bass)
Page 3
Financing Initiative.
Makes findings and declarations about access to healthy
food items, and the need to protect farmland in California.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, this bill could cost in excess of $150,000
General Fund, given the complexity of the report required.
The Healthy Food Purchase pilot is funded exclusively using
federal funding and private grants; therefore, extending
the sunset on the pilot project has no fiscal impact on the
state.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
A food desert is a geographic area with limited access to
affordable, quality, and nutritious foods. The 2008 Farm
Bill required the United States Department of Agriculture
to study food deserts. Findings from that study include:
i) Of all U.S. households, 2.3 million (2.2
percent), live more than a mile from a supermarket
and do not have access to a vehicle. An additional
3.4 million households (3.2 percent) live between
one-half to 1 mile from a supermarket and do not
have access to a vehicle.
ii) Area-based measures of access show that 23.5
million people live in low-income areas (areas where
more than 40 percent of the population has an income
at or below 200 percent of federal poverty
thresholds) that are more than 1 mile from a
supermarket or large grocery store. However, not all
of these 23.5 million people have low incomes. If
estimates are restricted to consider only low-income
people in low-income areas, then 11.5 million
people, (4.1 percent of the U.S. population) live in
low-income areas more than 1 mile from a
supermarket.
iii) Data on time use and travel mode show that
people living in low-income areas with limited
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2720 (John A. P?rez, Bass)
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access spend significantly more time (19.5 minutes)
traveling to a grocery store than the national
average (15 minutes). However, 93 percent of those
who live in low-income areas with limited access
traveled to the grocery store in a vehicle they or
another household member drove.
A subset of food deserts are areas increasingly referred to
as "food swamps." A food swamp is a defined geographic
area where the overabundance of high-energy foods (for
example, caloric snacks sold at convenience stores or high
fat, high caloric foods sold at fast food outlets)
overwhelms the healthy food options.
Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI)
In February of 2010, the Obama Administration
(Administration) released details of HFFI costing over
$400 million, 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
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 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.
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2720 (John A. P?rez, Bass)
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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.
Related bills
AB 2726 (Leno), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2008, extends the
sunset date of CDPH's Healthy Food Purchase pilot program
from January 1, 2011, to January 1, 2013, and authorizes
CDPH 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, establishes
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.
PRIOR ACTIONS
Assembly Floor: 53-22
Assembly Appropriations:12-5
Assembly Agriculture: 6-0
COMMENTS
1. More appropriate department? The author and the
Legislature may wish to consider whether CDFA and DSS are
the appropriate departments to coordinate on any healthy
food financing efforts. As conducted in other states and
envisioned by the federal government, a healthy food
financing initiative will establish a public-private
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2720 (John A. P?rez, Bass)
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partnership that will provide funding to assist in the
development of supermarkets and fresh food outlets in
underserved rural and urban areas throughout the state.
Given the nature of the program, it may be better suited
for the Department of Housing and Community Development,
the State Treasurer, and the Department of Public Health.
2. Emergency food programs. The author and the Legislature
may wish to consider expanding current emergency food
program efforts to allow increased access to fresh foods,
including the state's existing Emergency Food Assistance
Program and the California Food Bank's Farm to Family
efforts.
3. Work-in-progress. AB 2720 is intended to coordinate the
efforts to maximize HFFI in California; as such, it is a
work-in-progress as additional comments and suggestions are
anticipated in order to better harmonize with this federal
program's purpose.
4. Technical amendment. Section 2 of the bill is currently
uncodified. It needs a code reference in order to make it
operative, if signed into law.
POSITIONS
Support: California Catholic Conference
Consumer Federation of California
California Food Policy Advocates
Oppose: None
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