Bill Text: CA AB2959 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Prisons: food.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-08-28 - Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Becker. [AB2959 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2959-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 15, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2959

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Introduced by Assembly Member Ortega

February 16, 2024

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An act to add Section 5018 to the Penal Code, relating to incarceration.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2959, as amended, Ortega. Prisons and jails: Prisons: food.

Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the administration of correctional facilities and the care and custody of inmates.

This bill would require the department to require all food items sold in the facility vending machines to be priced at the same average market retail price as in the community in which the facility is located. The bill would also require those facilities to take into consideration research that exists on junk foods and snacks as a cause of obesity in children and families when providing food in the state prison, and to encourage the provision of affordable, fresh, and nutritious food items in prison vending machines and the sourcing of food items from local farmers and producers.

This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, require the department, in coordination with the Department of Rehabilitation, to ensure food items sold in prison vending machines do not exceed a 35% markup above the average market retail price in the community in which the facility is located.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 5018 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

5018.

 (a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in coordination with the Department of Rehabilitation, shall ensure that food items sold in prison vending machines do not exceed a 35-percent markup above the average market retail price in the community in which the prison is located.

(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2028.

SECTION 1.Section 5018 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

5018.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall do all of the following:

(a)Require all food items sold in prison vending machines to be priced at the same average market retail price as in the community in which the prison is located.

(b)Take into consideration the research that exists on junk foods and snacks as a cause of obesity in children and families when providing food in the state prison.

(c)Encourage the provision of affordable, fresh, and nutritious food items in prison vending machines and the sourcing of food items from local farmers and producers.