BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2602
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2602 (Eggman) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:6-0
Agriculture 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Farm to School Program within the
Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA), contingent upon
funding provided by the Legislature. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides elementary schoolsites with 65% of pupils eligible
for free or reduced-priced meals (FRPM) may receive up to
$5,000 in grant funds. Grant funds can only be used for the
following purposes: a) the development of salad bars; b)
staff training related to the preparation of fresh foods; c)
food literacy education, including, but not limited to,
through farms and gardens; and, d) kitchen equipment related
to the preparation of fresh foods.
2)Requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture (secretary) to
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 DFA,
the California Department of Education (CDE), and the State
Department of Public Health (DPH). Requires the working group
to advise the secretary on ways to develop farm to school
programs and availability of state and nonstate resources and
technical assistance to help school districts and COEs
establish programs.
3)Requires the secretary, the CDE, and the DPH to use existing
resources to comply with the requirements of this bill.
4)Requires grantees to report on expenditures in a manner
prescribed by the secretary. Authorizes a school district or
COE to submit one report for all the schools that have
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received grants that are under the jurisdiction of the school
district or COE.
5)Specifies implementation of the provisions of this bill is
contingent upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT :
1)Unknown state costs, likely in the millions of dollars. This
bill does not specify total grant funding, does not identify a
funding source and does not limit the number of grants
awarded. Roughly 4,000 school sites have 65% of pupils
eligible for FRPM. For illustration, assuming 2,000 school
sites qualify for the maximum grant award of $5,000, total
costs would be $12 million.
2)This bill requires DFA to administer the grant with existing
resources. DFA, however, indicates the costs to administer
this new grant program would not be absorbable. This bill does
not specify a total grant amount therefore it is difficult to
estimate administrative costs. Grant programs can allow
anywhere from 5% to 30% of the grant to be used for
administration, depending on the complexity of the grant. For
example, if the total grant was $6 million, DFA would likely
need $300,000 to $400,000 to administer the program.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. This bill establishes a farm to school program with
the goal of increasing access to food grown by local farmers.
The author cites high rates in childhood obesity and diabetes
as a need to increase access to fresh food in schools.
California Food Policy Advocates support the bill and note a
recent survey found one in three school districts lack
adequate kitchen supplies to prepare a variety of fruits and
vegetables.
2)Background . Existing law requires local educational agencies
to provide one nutritiously adequate free and reduced-price
meal to needy children once a day during each schoolday. Meals
are required to meet certain national and state nutrition
guidelines.
School meal programs are funded predominantly by the USDA
through its National School Lunch (NSL) and SBP and
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supplemented by state funds. These programs are federal
entitlement programs, meaning federal funds are provided as
long as recipients meet income eligibility criteria.
According to the CDE, on an average day, more than 4.7 million
meals are served at approximately 43,000 locations.
The federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 made changes
to the NSL and School Breakfast Program through regulations
adopted in 2012 to, among others, improve school nutrition
quality. The Act also provided $5 million annually for the
Farm to School Grant Program to improve access to local foods
in eligible schools. The grants provide between $15,000 to
$100,000 to be used for training, supporting operations,
planning, purchasing equipment, developing school gardens,
developing partnerships and implementing farm to school
programs.
Many districts currently operate farm to school programs with
existing resources. Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School
District's Farmers' Market Salad Bar was one of the first
programs, established in 1997. It was expanded to all schools
in the district by 2001. The Davis Joint Unified School
District has a farm to school program where fresh fruits and
vegetables are purchased from local farms and vendors. Having
the proper equipment and facilities are major components of
the food program. Other models of farm to school programs
include establishing school gardens (used for educational and
food program purposes) and purchasing from a third party that
delivers locally grown produce.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081