Advocacy update - California anti-hunger legislation

***Update on California anti-hunger bills***

Friday September 11 was the last day for bills to make it out of the legislature and on to the Governor’s desk. Three of the bills mentioned below, AB 515, AB 1321, and SB 708 made it out of the legislature and are now on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his signature. Click here to send an email to Governor Brown in support of these bills.

September is Hunger Action Month, when we join with food banks and anti-hunger organizations from around the country in raising awareness about hunger in our communities and talking about solutions that can help ensure that everyone has enough to eat. Look for us on social media in September – we’ll be wearing orange and sharing information about hunger in our community and about how to get involved in anti-hunger advocacy.

September is also exciting because it’s the month that our state lawmakers and Governor Brown will make decisions on bills that have been moving through the legislature all year.

Upcoming legislative deadlines are:

Friday, August 28: Last day for bills to make it out of Fiscal Committee/off of Suspense File.
August 31 – September 11: Full Assembly and Senate vote on bills that made it out of Appropriations. Deadline to pass bills September 11.
Sunday October 11: Last day for Governor to pass or veto bills.

Click here to read about all of the bills on St. Anthony’s 2015 Advocacy Agenda that have ~~made it through the legislative process so far~~ made it to the Governor’s desk.

Scroll down for more information about hunger-related bills have a chance to make it to the Governor’s desk – if they make it out of fiscal committee and survive a floor vote in either the Assembly or Senate. Sign up for advocacy updates to be alerted about when and how to take action on these bills.

AB 292 (Santiago). Pupil nutrition: adequate time to eat.

Problem: Too many California students are missing out on school meals because they are not provided adequate time to eat.

Solution: This bill would require school districts to ensure that schools make available to its pupils adequate time to eat (20 minutes) after being served lunch. The bill would require a school that determines that it is currently not providing pupils with adequate time to eat to identify and develop a plan to implement ways to increase pupils’ time to eat lunch.

AB 515 (Eggman). Tax Credit for Agricultural Donations to Food Banks.

AB 515 would increase access to healthy foods for low-income Californians by offering most California agricultural producers a 20 percent tax credit for the wholesale value of foods donated to food banks. This bill expands the categories of food donations eligible for the tax credit to items other than fresh produce, including nuts, beans, rice, meat, dried fruits, peanut butter, dairy, and breads.

AB 515 is on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his signature. Click here to email the Governor about this and other anti-hunger bills on his desk.

AB 1321 (Ting): The California Nutrition Incentives Act.

Problem: Low-income Californians who receive benefits including CalFresh and SSI have trouble affording healthy foods.

Solution: This bill will help California leverage federal dollars to allow low-income Californians to purchase healthy foods at farmers’ markets.

AB 1321 is on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his signature. Click here to email the Governor about this and other anti-hunger bills on his desk.

SB 23 (Mitchell). CalWORKs: Eligibility. (Repeal Maximum Family Grant rule.)

Problem: Currently, children born to families who already receive CalWORKs are denied aid, resulting in household benefit levels that are well below the poverty level, leading to homelessness, hunger, and other negative health outcomes.

Solution: This bill would prohibit the denial of CalWORKs aid or denial of an increase in the maximum aid payment as a result of the birth of a child.

SB 708 (Mendoza). Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals: online applications.

Problem: Many children, especially children of homeless or migrant families, who are eligible to participate in National School Lunch Program (NSPL) do not. For some of these families, this is because they are unable to access application materials in the language they read or are concerned about the privacy of the information on their application.

Solution: SB 708 will improve access to federally funded school meals to low-income children by requiring online applications to: (1) include links to all translations of school meal applications made available online by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; (2) only require information that is necessary to make an eligibility determination; and, (3) protect the privacy and rights of any family submitting an application. The bill would require all applications to include clear instructions for families that are homeless or are migrants.

SB 708 is on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his signature. Click here to email the Governor about this and other anti-hunger bills on his desk.