CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

99

Introduced by Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Elhawary, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, Macedo, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Rivas, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, and Zbur)

March 26, 2025

Relative to child nutrition.

Fiscal committee: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

This measure would call on the state’s Representatives in Congress to continue to support investments in the federal Local Food for Schools and Child Care program and would call on the President of the United States to work with Congress to support family farmers who produce fresh, locally sourced food for school meals.

WHEREAS, Over 30 million children eat school lunch every day nationwide; and

WHEREAS, Healthy school meals ensure children are well-nourished, which contributes to better academic achievement and school attendance rates; and

WHEREAS, Buying locally grown food helps Californian farmers, food producers, employees, and their families; and

WHEREAS, Farming and related industries employ more than 22.1 million people, making up over 10.4 percent of employment in the United States; and

WHEREAS, For more than 60 consecutive years, California has been the number one agricultural state in the nation, producing more than 400 crop and livestock products and accounting for over one-third of vegetables and nearly three-quarters of the fruits and nuts produced in the United States; and

WHEREAS, California is the nation’s leader in agricultural exports, shipping $23.6 billion in food and agricultural commodities around the world in 2022, which represents a 4.4 percent increase from the previous year; and

WHEREAS, The federal Local Food for Schools and Child Care (LFSCC) program was established to build a more resilient food supply chain and has facilitated a connection between hundreds of California farms, schools, and food banks, leading to revenues for farmers, growers, and other food producers, and creating more jobs for food system workers; and

WHEREAS, In 2022, the United States Department of Agriculture allocated over $23 million in LFSCC funding to the State Department of Education from the Commodity Credit Corporation, providing funds to 319 school food authorities, and those funds helped schools purchase local, regional, and state-grown food, supported local farms, enhanced access to nutritious meals, and helped stabilize local food systems; and

WHEREAS, On March 7, 2025, the Trump Administration canceled over $70 million in anticipated LFSCC program funding for 2025 and canceled over $1 billion nationally for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program; and

WHEREAS, Research demonstrates that each dollar invested in local food systems generates an additional $2.16 in economic activity, which indicates that canceling $70 million in funding could result in an estimated loss exceeding $150 million in economic activity statewide; and

WHEREAS, The loss of federal investment jeopardizes the economic viability of farmers and food producers in California who relied on these institutional markets; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature opposes cuts to the LFSCC program, and calls on our state’s Representatives in Congress to continue to support investments in the LFSCC program; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature calls on the President of the United States to work with Congress to support family farmers who produce fresh, locally sourced food for school meals; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.