Amended in Assembly April 21, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 2, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2602

Introduced by Assembly Member Eggman

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Garcia, Gonzalez, and Quirk-Silva)

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(Coauthor: Assembly Member Campos)

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February 21, 2014

An act to add Article 10 (commencing with Section 590) to Chapter 3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to the Farm to School Program.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2602, as amended, Eggman. Farm to School Program.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to ensure that the nutrition levels of meals served to schoolage children pursuant to the federal National School Lunch Act be of the highest quality and greatest nutritional value possible.

This bill would establish the Farm to School Program within the Department of Food and Agriculture, to provide for the allocation of grants and technical assistance to school districts and county offices of education for specified purposes, including serving healthy meals in school cafeterias. The bill would authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to distribute grants of up to $5,000 per schoolsite to eligible school districts and county offices of education for begin insert specified end insert purposes begin insert , end insert including, among others, food literacy education. The bill would require a school district or county office of education that receives a grant pursuant to those provisions to comply with specified reporting requirements. The bill would require the secretary to convene an interagency working group on increasing the provision of fresh and nutritious school meals to pupils that includes representatives of the Department of Food and Agriculture, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Public Health. The bill would make the implementation of the Farm to School Program contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature for those purposes.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) The lack of access to nutritious food has led to a rise in
obesity among children, which now affects one out of every three
children in the United States. Obesity can lead to a variety of health
problems, such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and
elevated cholesterol levels. Farm to School programs could increase
access to California grown vegetables and fruits, specifically in
urban, low-income, and rural communities.

(b) In 2013, federal nutritional standards for foods sold in
schools were updated to comply with the improved nutritional
standards of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
In California, 89.1 percent of schools are meeting these new meal
standards. However, California schools are still facing obstacles
in providing healthy meals to pupils, including a lack of adequate
kitchen supplies.

(c) Farm to School program funding will provide school districts
with the opportunity to update their kitchen supplies to meet new
federal nutritional guidelines, increase staff training related to the
preparation of fresh foods, educate pupils on nutrition, and prepare
a greater amount and variety of fruits and vegetables.

SEC. 2.  

Article 10 (commencing with Section 590) is added
to Chapter 3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Food and Agricultural
Code, to read:

 

Article 10.  Farm to School Program

 

590.  

(a) The Farm to School Program is hereby established
within the department for the purpose of promoting the objectives
specified in subdivision (b) through the allocation of grants and
the provision of technical assistance to school districts and county
offices of education.

(b) “Farm to school program” means a program that connects
schools and California farms with the objectives of serving healthy
meals in school cafeterias, improving pupil nutrition, and providing
agriculture, health, and nutrition educational opportunities.

(c) The secretary shall convene an interagency working group
on increasing the provision of fresh and nutritious school meals
to pupils that includes, but is not limited to, representatives of the
Department of Food and Agriculture, the State Department of
Education, and the State Department of Public Health. The working
group shall advise the secretary on all of the following:

(1) Effective and efficient means of encouraging school districts
and county offices of education to develop a farm to school
program.

(2) The availability of state and nonstate resources and technical
assistance to help school districts and county offices of education
in establishing and maintaining farm to school programs.

(d) The secretary shall use existing resources to comply with
this section.

(e) The State Department of Education and the State Department
of Public Health shall use existing resources to comply with
subdivision (c).

591.  

(a) An eligible school district or county office of
education may apply on behalf of an elementary schoolsite to the
department, in a manner determined by the secretary, for a grant
to develop and maintain a farm to school program under this article.

(b) A school district or county office of education is eligible to
apply for the grant if the schoolsite to which the funds will go
serves pupils in prekindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1
to 6, inclusive, and the school district or county office of education
has an average of at least 65 percent of pupils who are eligible to
receive free or reduced-price meals.

(c) The application, at a minimum, shall include, but is not
limited to, the following information:

(1) The identity of each school at which a farm to school
program is to be located.

(2) The intended items of expenditure for the funds received,
the overall cost of the items, and other sources of funding, if any.

(3) A description of how the funds will be used to meet the
objectives of this article.

592.  

The secretary shall distribute the grants awarded to eligible
school districts or county offices of education in accordance with
the following:

(a) The maximum grant for any begin delete schoosite end delete begin insert schoolsite end insert shall be
five thousand dollars ($5,000).

(b) No school district or county office of education shall be
awarded more than 10 percent of overall funds unless the secretary
determines there is insufficient demand from other county offices
of education or school districts.

(c) Funds may be used only for the following purposes:

(1) The development of salad bars.

(2) Staff training related to the preparation of fresh foods.

(3) Food literacy education, including, but not limited to, through
farms and gardens.

(4) Kitchen equipment related to the preparation of fresh foods.

593.  

(a) As a condition of the receipt of funds pursuant to this
article, within six months of the final expenditure of funds received
pursuant to this article, a school district or county office of
education shall report to the secretary, in conjunction with the
interagency working group convened pursuant to subdivision (c)
of Section 590, in a manner prescribed by the secretary, regarding
the use of begin insert the expended end insert funds.

(b) A school district or county office of education may submit
one report for all of the schools that have received grants that are
under the jurisdiction of the school district or county office of
education.

594.  

The implementation of begin delete the provisions of end delete this article is
contingent upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for those
purposes.