Bill Text: CA AB292 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals: adequate time to eat.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Senate committee without further action. [AB292 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB292-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 292	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 7, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 18, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Santiago

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2015

   An act to amend Section 49550 of the Education Code, relating to
pupil nutrition.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 292, as amended, Santiago. Pupil nutrition: free or
reduced-price meals: adequate time to eat.
   (1) Existing law requires each school district or county
superintendent of schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1
to 12, inclusive, to provide one nutritionally adequate free or
reduced-price meal for each needy pupil during each schoolday, except
as specified. Existing law authorizes a school district or county
office of education to use funds made available through any
applicable federal or state program or to use its own funds to
provide the required meals.
   This bill would express legislative intent that schools provide
pupils with adequate time to eat lunch during the schoolday. The bill
would require school districts, in addition to providing a
nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal for each needy
pupil each schoolday, to ensure that each of the schools in their
respective jurisdictions  provides their   makes
available to its  pupils adequate time to eat after being
 served.   served lunch.  The bill would
declare that the State Department of Education specifies that an
adequate time to eat school lunch is 20 minutes after being served.
The bill would require a school that determines, upon annual review
of its bell schedule, that it is currently not providing pupils with
adequate time to eat, to  identify,   identify
and develop a plan to implement,  in consultation with the
school district, ways to increase pupils' time to  eat.
  eat lunch.  To the extent this requirement would
create new duties for schools and school districts, it would
constitute a state-mandated local program.
   The bill would specify that, in order to comply with its
requirements requiring adequate time for pupils to eat after being
served, the appropriate school food authority may, to the extent that
funds are available, use federally or state-regulated nonprofit
school food service cafeteria accounts to defray any costs allowable
under the federal National School Lunch Program and in accordance
with that funding source before considering other funding streams.
   The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
   (2) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Healthy eating is vital to learning and cognitive development.
When children miss out on nutritious meals during the schoolday,
they cannot learn, grow, or achieve at their full potential.
   (2) School meal programs help ensure that children have access to
adequate nutrients and develop healthy eating behaviors.
   (3) Lunchtime is an essential part of the schoolday, supporting
children's academic success along with their physical, social, and
emotional well-being.
   (4) The federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
substantially improved the nutritional standards of the federal
National School Lunch Program. California has invested significant
resources to effectively implement these standards. These investments
are wasted if pupils do not eat lunch during the schoolday.
   (5) There are pupils across California--in elementary, middle, and
high schools--who do not have the recommended minimum time to eat
lunch during the schoolday. When pressed for time, pupils often throw
away portions of their lunches, buy less nutritious snacks instead
of lunch, or skip lunch entirely, even when they are hungry.
   (6) Pupils who face long lines or short lunch periods are less
likely to participate in the school lunch program at all.
   (b) Since California requires that a nutritious free or
reduced-price meal be made available to all low-income pupils
enrolled in traditional K-12 public schools, and since pupils need
enough time to eat lunch in order to reap the health and academic
benefits of school meals, it is therefore the intent of the
Legislature that schools provide pupils with adequate time to eat
lunch during the schoolday.
  SEC. 2.  Section 49550 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   49550.  (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a school district or
county office of education maintaining kindergarten or any of grades
1 to 12, inclusive, shall provide for each needy pupil one
nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each
schoolday, except for family day care homes that shall be reimbursed
for 75 percent of the meals served. School districts shall ensure
that each of the schools in their respective jurisdictions 
provides their   makes available to its  pupils
adequate time to eat after being  served.  
served lunch.  The department specifies adequate time to eat
school lunch as 20 minutes after being served. Upon annual review of
its bell schedule, if a school determines that it is currently not
providing pupils with adequate time to eat, the school, in
consultation with the school district, shall identify  and
develop a plan to implement  ways to increase pupils' time to
 eat.   eat lunch. 
   (b) In order to comply with subdivision (a), a school district or
county office of education may use funds that are available through
any federal or state program the purpose of which includes the
provision of meals to a pupil, including, but not necessarily limited
to, the federal School Breakfast Program, the federal National
School Lunch Program, the federal Summer Food Service Program, the
federal Seamless Summer Option, or the state meal program, or may do
so at the expense of the school district or county office of
education.
   (c) In order to comply with the provision of subdivision (a)
requiring adequate time for pupils to eat after being served, the
appropriate school food authority may, to the extent that funds are
available, use federally or state-regulated nonprofit school food
service cafeteria accounts to defray any costs allowable under the
federal National School Lunch Program and in accordance with that
funding source before considering other funding streams.
  SEC. 3.  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains 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.