BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2280
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 24, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
William W. Monning, Chair
AB 2280 (Lara) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : California Special Supplemental Food Program for
Women, Infants, and Children.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH), in its
role as administrator of the Special Supplemental Food Program
for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), to provide written
notice, with specified information, to a vendor if DPH
determines the vendor has committed an initial violation.
Requires the notice to be delivered to the vendor within 30 days
of the initial violation and before DPH conducts a second
investigation for purposes of establishing a pattern of the
violation to impose a sanction. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DPH, within 30 days, to provide written notice to a
retail food vendor if DPH determines that the vendor has
committed an initial violation for which a pattern of the
violation must be established to impose a sanction.
2)Requires the written notice to be delivered to the vendor's
most recent business ownership address on file with DPH before
DPH conducts a second investigation for purposes of
establishing a pattern of the violation.
3)Requires the written notice to include a description of the
initial violation sufficient to allow the vendor to take
corrective action that includes all of the following:
a) A description of the sales transaction constituting the
violation;
b) The date and approximate time of the transaction; and,
c) The location of the vendor store.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the establishment of a statewide WIC program,
administered by DPH, for providing nutritional food
supplements to low-income pregnant women, low-income
postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and
children under five years of age, who have been determined to
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be at nutritional risk.
2)Provides for the redemption of nutrition coupons by WIC
participants at any authorized WIC retail food vendor.
3)Requires DPH to authorize an appropriate number and
distribution of WIC retail food vendors, and requires DPH to
establish certain criteria.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, WIC
participants need access to healthy nutritious foods, but to
do so they must have access to state-approved WIC retail food
vendors in their own communities. The author maintains that
current inconsistencies between state regulations and federal
law and regulations have compounded the problem of WIC food
access. Specifically, failure to notify a vendor of a first
or subsequent violation, before sanctions are imposed, denies
the vendor the opportunity to implement corrective action to
prevent future violations, such as providing additional
training for cashiers and store employees. Additionally, the
author maintains, current state regulations put a vendor in
danger of disqualification thereby exacerbating the
community's access to eligible retail food vendors and thus
necessary food products. This bill, the author argues, will
do the following: a) Ensure the state complies with federal
law and regulations pertaining to WIC vendor notifications; b)
Create a clear and fair process for WIC retail food vendors to
take necessary corrective action after a violation is
documented; c) Preserve access to healthy nutritious foods for
WIC clients in their own communities; and, d) Prevent
exacerbating "food deserts" in our state.
2)WIC . According to DPH, WIC is a 100% federally funded
nutrition and health program that provides education and food.
DPH asserts that the program is designed to provide temporary
assistance during those brief periods in life which can become
more challenging: during pregnancy, the birth of a newborn, or
having a young child with nutrition and/or health conditions.
Most families participating in WIC, according to DPH, are
employed with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty
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level (currently $42,642 for a family of four). DPH maintains
that WIC responds, up to a child's fifth birthday, with
nutritious food, parenting and nutrition education, support
for breastfeeding mothers and babies, referrals for services
needed by the family, and requirements for medical care to
continue participation.
DPH administers contracts with 84 local agencies - half local
governments and half private, non-profit community
organizations - which operate WIC centers in 650 locations
statewide. DPH maintains that at these centers, approximately
3,000 local WIC staff members assess WIC eligibility based on
residency requirements, income, and health or nutritional
risk, and issue six million food checks each month. Each
check is valid for a 30-day period and is payable for a
specific type and quantity of food. DPH asserts that WIC is a
direct infusion into the California economy of about $1.1
billion per year, with the retail value of WIC checks about
$63 per month per participant.
According to DPH, WIC checks can be redeemed at any of the over
5,500 grocery stores statewide that have entered into vendor
agreements with WIC. Stores may charge WIC their shelf prices
for the foods purchased up to a maximum allowable amount
calculated for each peer group (determined by store type,
where the store is located, and the number of registers in the
store) and updated every two weeks.
DPH indicates that WIC is not an entitlement program for which
Congress sets aside funds to serve every eligible individual,
but rather WIC is a discretionary program operating under a
capped grant administered by the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) for which Congress appropriates a specified
amount of funds annually. California WIC supplements this
allocation with formula manufacturer rebates. According to
the USDA, nationwide, WIC operates in all 50 states plus
tribal organizations and territories. In fiscal year 2011,
the program served 8.9 million participants, including almost
half of all infants born in the United States. California is
the nation's largest WIC program serving 16.4% (1.46 million)
of all WIC participants.
3)WIC NOTIFICATION OF VENDOR VIOLATION . According to DPH, the
department conducts quality assurance of WIC, which includes
the review of local agencies and compliance activities at
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authorized WIC retail food vendors in California. DPH's
monitoring occurs on-site which leads to further investigation
at approximately 15% of authorized WIC retail food vendors
each year. WIC also employs "integrity staff" with
responsibility for training and for follow-up on reports of
program abuse and fraud pertaining to participants, local
agency staff, and authorized retail food vendors.
Currently, federal law and regulations state the following
regarding WIC notification of retail food vendor violations:
"the State agency must notify a vendor in writing when an
investigation reveals an initial incidence of a violation for
which a pattern of incidences must be established in order to
impose a sanction, before another such incidence is
documented, unless the state agency determines, in its
discretion, on a case-by-case basis, that notifying the vendor
would compromise an investigation."
State regulations, however, state that, "a warning that
violations are occurring or have occurred is not required
prior to any adverse action taken against food vendors," in
the section pertaining to vendor sanctions.
4)SUPPORT . The California Grocers Association (CGA) writes in
support that current California Code of Regulations regarding
WIC retail food vendor violation notifications is inconsistent
with federal law. CGA maintains that in fact, while federal
law provides clear direction requiring state agencies to
provide vendors notification of vendor violations, California
regulations provide direction to the contrary - putting
vendors at risk of losing their contract with the state and
their ability to serve WIC participants. CGA asserts that
this bill will allow WIC retail food vendors the opportunity
to remedy alleged violations and help preserve options for WIC
participants by allowing vendors to remain in the WIC program
after rectifying any alleged violations.
5)POLICY CONCERNS : The author's rationale for this bill is to
conform California law with federal law and regulations
regarding WIC vendor notification of a violation. This bill
only conforms a portion of the federal law and omits DPH's
discretion to notify, on a case-by-case basis, if notifying
the vendor would compromise an investigation. The author may
wish to consider including this discretion in this bill's
language in order to truly conform with federal law.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Grocers Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Tanya Robinson-Taylor / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097