Bill Text: CA AB800 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 800

Introduced

Bill Title: State prisons: food.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2026-02-02 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB800 Detail]

Download: California-2025-AB800-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 800

Introduced by Assembly Member Ortega

February 18, 2025

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

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 800, as introduced, Ortega. State 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 prison vending machines to be priced at the same average market retail price as in the community in which the prison is located. The bill would also require the department 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.

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

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

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.