Bill Text: CA SR57 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Resolution 57 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relative to school meals.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-09-01 - Re-referred to Com. on AGRI. [SR57 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SR57-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Resolution

No. 57

Introduced by Senator Caballero

August 19, 2021

Relative to school meals.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SR 57, as introduced, Caballero.

WHEREAS, American-grown fruits and vegetables are produced under the strictest regulations to ensure food safety, reduce environmental impacts, carefully manage pesticide use, and conserve natural resources; and

WHEREAS, One of the largest public institutional purchasers of agricultural products are schools and universities. California receives nearly $2,000,000,000 each year in federal funding for school meal programs, money that should be spent supporting the state’s economy; and

WHEREAS, The two coequal goals of the National School Lunch Act, enacted in 1946, are to provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day and to support United States-grown agricultural products. The Buy American Provision of the National School Lunch Act requires school food authorities “to purchase, to the maximum extent practicable, domestic commodity or product”; and

WHEREAS, On January 25, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden issued an Executive Order on “Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers,” with the goal of using federal funds to maximize the use of goods, products, materials, and agricultural products produced in, and services offered in, the United States; and

WHEREAS, Under current United States Department of Agriculture regulations, school districts can bypass the existing Buy American Provision requirement for school meals and purchase imported food products from anywhere in the world if there is a significant cost differential between domestic and imported food products. However, “significant cost differential” is not defined, resulting in widespread noncompliance with Buy American Provision requirements and flooding schools with lower quality nondomestic products; and

WHEREAS, Spending taxpayer dollars on agricultural food products for our students that are grown and processed under less rigorous health, safety, and labor standards does not reflect our nation’s policy priorities and hurts United States farmers, workers, and students; and

WHEREAS, Results of a 2017 review of six California school districts by the California State Auditor indicated that all six districts had purchased foreign-sourced food products to serve in school meals. The best assurance that our students will be served safe, nutritious food is to purchase domestically produced products; and

WHEREAS, California produces nearly all of the United States’ processed peaches, generating nearly $211,000,000 annually, yet peach and fruit processors can no longer compete with nondomestic producers; and

WHEREAS, In 2018, Seneca Foods, a producer of peach and fruit cocktail products, shuttered its Modesto plant, laying off 265 full-time workers and putting close to 1,000 seasonal workers out of a job. The company cited “import competition from overseas — China and Europe” as the reason for the plant closure and competition from nondomestic producers hurts California agriculture and threatens to eliminate the jobs that workers depend on to feed their own families; and

WHEREAS, Over one-third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of United States fruits and nuts are grown in California, where the agricultural abundance includes over 400 commodities; and

WHEREAS, Over 99 percent of California’s 1,200 dairy farms are family owned and the dairy sector is responsible for approximately 180,000 jobs in the economy; and

WHEREAS, California food processors and packing houses employ hundreds of thousands of workers, many of whom are part of the unionized workforce and located in disadvantaged and low-income communities throughout California; and

WHEREAS, California is a worldwide leader on efforts to address climate change. Our farmers and food processors continue to lower emissions and reduce their carbon footprint. Sourcing food products from countries with less stringent environmental standards and then transporting this food thousands of additional miles before being consumed undermines our efforts to reduce the impact of climate change; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That the Senate expresses strong support for Buy American Provision requirements for all school food purchases to ensure our children consume food of the highest quality and safety that is reflective of our values by supporting local farmers, jobs, and our economy, and reinforcing California’s commitment as a world leader on climate change, environmental safeguards, and labor protections; and be it further

Resolved, That the Senate calls on the 117th Congress of the United States to help the United States Department of Agriculture meet its obligations to maximize the use of goods, products, materials, and agricultural products produced in, and services offered in, the United States under the President’s executive order, and to minimize exceptions to, and maximize use of, domestic procurement in the upcoming reauthorization of the federal Child Nutrition Act; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.