Bill Text: CA AB2449 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
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
BILL NUMBER: AB 2449 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014
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 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 State Department of Education.
served. The bill would declare that the State
Department of Education specifies that an adequate time to eat is 20
minutes after being served lunch. The bill would require a school
that determines it is not providing adequate time to eat to take
specified actions. 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 bill would require specify 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 may, to the extent
that funds are available, use federally or state-regulated
nonprofit school food service cafeteria accounts to defray any
allowable costs that are allowable from that
funding source. source before considering
other funding streams.
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, 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. served. The department
specifies adequate time to eat as 20 minutes after being served
lunch. If a school determines that it is currently not providing
pupils with adequate time to eat, the school, in coordination with
the school district or county office of education, shall develop and
begin to implement a plan to increase pupils' time to eat commencing
with the 2015-16 school year.
(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, a
school district or county office of education shall first
use may, to the extent that funds are available, use
federally or state-regulated nonprofit school food service
cafeteria accounts to defray any allowable costs
that are allowable from that funding source.
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.
