Bill Text: CA AB2449 | 2013-2014 | 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: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-14 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2449 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2449-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2449	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 23, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bocanegra

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2449, as amended, Bocanegra. 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 and county offices of education, in
addition to providing a nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price
meal for each needy pupil each schoolday, to ensure that 
there is   each of the schools in their respective
jurisdictions provides their pupils  adequate time to eat
 the meal after it is   after being  served
 , in accordance with the relevant 2013 guidelines of the State
Department of Education  . To the extent this requirement would
create new duties for school districts and county offices of
education, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.
 The 
   The bill would require that, in order to comply with its
requirements requiring adequate time for pupils to eat after being
served, a school district or county office of education first use
federally or state-regulated nonprofit school food service cafeteria
accounts to defray any costs that are allowable from that funding
source. 
    The  bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to this
provision.
   (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, they cannot learn, grow,
or achieve at their full potential.
   (2) Because children spend at least 175 days per year at school,
school meal programs can help ensure that children have access to
adequate nutrients and develop healthy eating behaviors.
   (3) Mealtimes are an essential part of the schoolday, supporting
childrens' 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 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 enough 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  and ensure that there is adequate time to eat the
meal after it is served  , except for family day care homes
that shall be reimbursed for 75 percent of the meals served. 
School districts and county offices of education shall ensure that
each of the schools in their respective jurisdictions provides their
pupils adequate   time to eat after being served, in
accordance with the relevant 2013 guidelines of the department. 

   (b) In order to comply with subdivision (a), a school district or
county office of education may use funds  made  
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, a
school district or county office of education shall first use
federally or state-regulated nonprofit school food service cafeteria
accounts to defray any costs that are allowable from that funding
source. 
  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.