BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1829
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1829 (Bradford) - As Amended: April 24, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill, commencing with the 2013-14 school year, requires a
school district participating in the School Breakfast Program
(SBP) or the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to disseminate
information regarding the nutritional content of the
reimbursable breakfasts or lunches as part of these programs.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the information disseminated to include, but not be
limited to, all of the following:
a) The total number of grams of saturated fat in each meal.
b) The total number of grams of protein in each meal.
c) The total number of carbohydrates in each meal.
d) The total number of milligrams of sodium in each meal.
2)Requires a school district participating in the SBP or NSLP to
present the information in a manner that permits parents and
pupils to access the nutritional information while they access
the daily school breakfast or lunch menu.
3)Requires these provisions to apply only to school districts,
that as of January 1, 2013, regularly disseminate school menu
information online or in printed form.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Potential GF/98 state reimbursable mandate, likely between
$170,000 and $345,000, to school districts to meet the
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requirements of this bill. These costs assume approximately
20% of school districts purchase nutrition analysis software
to calculate saturated fat, protein, carbohydrate, and sodium
counts. Some of the larger districts provide a portion of
this information on their websites. Most of these districts,
however, do not provide the information for each meal served.
Instead, they provide the information per item (e.g., pizza
has this much sodium, protein, etc.).
2)Annual GF administrative costs to the State Department of
Education (SDE) of approximately $400,000 to provide technical
assistance to school districts to implement this measure.
3)Does this create a state reimbursable mandate ? The SBP and
the NSLP requires school districts to meet certain nutritional
requirements in order to receive reimbursement for the meals
they serve. These programs, however, do not require districts
to disseminate this information to pupils or parents, as
required in this measure. As such, a district may file a
mandate claim to the Commission on State Mandates because this
bill requires them to complete a higher level of service than
currently required in federal or state law.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Existing law requires each school district or
county office of education maintaining any of grades K-12 to
provide one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal
to a needy pupil during each schoolday. Statute further
defines "nutritionally adequate meal" as a breakfast or lunch
that qualifies for reimbursement under the federal child
nutrition program.
In December 2010, the federal government enacted the Healthy,
Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFK Act), which establishes new
nutritional requirements for SBP (beginning July 1, 2013) and
NSLP (beginning July 1, 2012). The new requirements include
more of an emphasis on whole grain, fruits and vegetable
offerings and narrow caloric count requirements determined for
age groups. For example, local education agencies (LEAs) must
meet a weekly requirement of vegetable subgroup offerings
(i.e., dark green, orange, legumes) for these meal programs.
Also, students are required to select a fruit or vegetable to
receive reimbursement for a breakfast or lunch meal.
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The HHFK Act also requires LEAs to decrease the amount of
sodium provided in each reimbursable NSLP meal. The statute
establishes specific sodium targets LEAs are required to meet
by July 1, 2014.
Beginning October 2012, LEAs will receive an additional $0.06
per reimbursable lunch meal to implement the new federal
requirements. There will be some type of certification
process for LEAs to receive this additional funding. Federal
guidance on the reimbursement is pending.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "One in every three
children (31.7%) ages 2-19 is overweight or obese. Obesity
can increase the risk factor of diseases such as Type II
Diabetes, heart disease and several cancers. Obese children
are also more likely to develop asthma and osteoarthritis."
The author further states: "Healthy eating and physical
exercise can help to reduce childhood obesity. Therefore,
efforts to promote healthy eating and physical activity are
absolutely critical. Although current law mandates
restaurant chains to provide nutritional information on their
menus, there is no mandate on the same disclosure for school
lunches. School lunches provided under the NSLP must meet
federal nutrition requirements, but decisions on what food to
serve are made by local school food authorities. This bill
will provide students and families with clear nutritional
information to help them make healthy eating choices."
3)Implementation of this bill vs. the new federal requirements
for school meal programs . The federal HHFK Act establishes a
"meal-based approach" where children have a wide variety of
offerings based on specific requirements (i.e., more whole
grains and fruit and vegetables). This approach is based on
serving sizes and cups of food rather than calorie count.
This bill requires school districts to report specific
nutritional information about school meals, including the
number of calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates, etc. It is
unclear how districts will comply with the bill's requirements
given the different approach to school meals established under
the federal HHFK Act.
4)Non-fiscal bill . This bill is keyed non-fiscal; however, this
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committee requested to hear it to examine potential costs to
school districts to meet the information requirements in this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081