BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 602
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 30, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    SB 602 (Padilla) - As Amended:  June 7, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              HealthVote:17 - 0  


          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires a food handler to obtain a food handler card  
          within 30 days of his or her hire date at certain food  
          facilities beginning July 1, 2011 and requires that at least one  
          of the accredited food safety certification examinations be  
          offered online. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Costs associated with this legislation would be minor and  
          absorbable within existing Department of Public Health  
          resources. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This legislation is intended as an initial step  
            toward reducing food borne illnesses by requiring that people  
            in food facilities who are responsible for handling the food  
            have been properly trained in food safety techniques. 

            The sponsors of the legislation, the California Restaurant  
            Association (CRA), note that people can make food unsafe in a  
            variety of ways - ranging from poor personal hygiene,  
            incorrect time and temperature for cooking and storing food,  
            and poor cleaning and sanitizing of cooking areas and  
            implements. Developing an affordable food handler  
            certification program, the sponsors hope, will lead to  
            improved food safety.  As an example, CRA notes that a study  
            in Florida, a state with a food handler certification program,  
            found a 79% decrease in food borne illness outbreaks since the  
            implementation of the program in 1997.








                                                                  SB 602
                                                                  Page  2


           2)Related Legislation  . Similar to this legislation, SB 453  
            (Padilla) of 2009 would have required an individual involved  
            in the preparation, storage, or service of food to obtain a  
            food handler card within 30 days after hire and would have  
            directed the DPH to develop and implement standards for  
            accrediting food handler certification organizations and  
            guidelines for approved food handler courses by June 1, 2010.   
            This bill died on the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense  
            File.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081