BILL NUMBER: SB 1486 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lieu
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act relating to food to add Section
114092 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to food facilities
.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1486, as amended, Lieu. Food facilities: menu labeling.
The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law contains various
provisions regarding the contents, packaging, labeling, and
advertising of food, drugs, and cosmetics. The California Retail Food
Code provides for the regulation of health and sanitation standards
for retail food facilities, as defined, by the State Department of
Public Health. Under existing law, local health agencies are
primarily responsible for enforcing the California Retail Food Code.
A violation of any of these provisions is punishable as a
misdemeanor.
The
misdemeanor . The code requires fish that
are received for sale or service to be commercially and legally
caught or harvested. The code also imposes various labeling and
storage requirements for shellstock.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to ensure that consumers receive certain information
regarding seafood.
This bill would require a retail food facility, as defined, that
offers or sells as a menu item seafood, as defined, that is raised,
caught, or produced outside the United States to identify on the menu
specified information regarding the seafood.
The bill would require the department or local enforcement
agencies to enforce these provisions, as specified, and would make a
violation an infraction or subject to a civil penalty.
By expanding the definition of a crime and imposing additional
duties upon local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 114092 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
114092. (a) A retail food facility that offers or sells as a menu
item seafood that is raised, caught, or produced outside the United
States shall identify on the menu all of the following information:
(1) The species of seafood.
(2) The country in which the seafood was raised or caught.
(3) Whether the seafood was raised or caught wild.
(b) (1) Enforcement of this section shall be pursuant to Section
113713.
(2) (A) A violation of this section is, notwithstanding Section
114395, an infraction, punishable by a fine of not less than fifty
dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). A second
violation within a five-year period from a prior violation shall be
punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor
more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). For a third or subsequent
violation within a five-year period, the fine shall be not less than
two hundred fifty dollars ($250) nor more than two thousand five
hundred dollars ($2,500). A food facility shall not be found to have
committed a violation under this paragraph more than once during an
inspection visit.
(B) Alternatively, the enforcement agency may assess a civil
penalty of an amount that is no less than or greater than the amounts
specified for fines in this paragraph.
(c) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions
shall apply:
(1) "Food facility" means a food facility in the state that
operates as part of a chain with at least 19 other food facilities
doing business with the same name and offering for sale substantially
the same menu items.
(2) "Seafood" means naturally born, hatchery-raised, net-pen
aquacultural, or farm-raised fish and shellfish. "Seafood" includes a
fillet, steak, nugget, and any other flesh from fish or shellfish.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency
or school district because, in that regard, this act creates a new
crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the
penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime
within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of
Title 2 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would ensure that consumers know the true
source of seafood through enhanced disclosure and country of origin
labeling.