CFFN members, representing the diversity of food & farming issues facing the state from hunger and nutrition to farmer livelihood and food chain worker protections, collectively identify policies important for the state’s food and farming system. Ten value-aligned pieces of legislation were then chosen by our grassroots leader’s Steering Council as priority legislation for the whole Network to focus more deeply on.
We ask Legislators to consider these pieces of legislation to ensure California’s policies contribute to the creation of an inclusive, equitable, and ecologically regenerative food and farming system that has recognized and repaired injustices to Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) workers, producers and communities, and which generates healthy, affordable, accessible, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and other agricultural products.
2024 Priority Food + Farm Legislation
Agroecological Farming
AB 2113 (E. Garcia) – Pesticide Mill Fee (Support if Amended)
Increases the pesticide mill fee, which provides majority funding to the Department of Pesticide Regulation. We seek amendments outlined in this factsheet that would fund a Sustainable Pest Management grant program, enforceable targets for completing reevaluations of hazardous pesticides, and an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee at DPR, with a higher mill fee increase. We also oppose a provision that would restrict eligibility to request review of permits for restricted material pesticides
AB 2734 (Connolly) – Improvements to the Healthy Soil Program
Amends the program to ensure all farmers can access it, including on-farm demonstration projects lasting up to 5 yrs, consultation with CA Organic Products Advisory Committee, advance payment rates of up to 50%, regional variations in input costs for incentive rates, a common application process, and equipment sharing as an allowable cost in Climate Smart Agriculture Technical Assistance Grants program
Healthy Food Access
SB 1254 (Becker) – Thriving Transitions: Food for Re-Entry and Ensuring Stable Homes (FRESH) Act
Allows and assists incarcerated people in applying for CalFresh benefits up to 90 days before their release to better prepare them for reentry and creates a workgroup within the Department of Social Services to begin recommendations for a statewide reentry process
AB 1975 (Bonta) – Medically Supportive Food and Nutrition
Transitions food-based interventions from pilot to permanent Medi-Cal benefits and launches an advisory workgroup to support the writing of related regulations
AB 660 (Irwin) & AB 2577 (Irwin) – Food Expiration Date Reform
Confusing and misleading expiration date labels are a leading cause of food waste up and down the supply chain. AB 660 would implement the industry’s suggested best practices to require food manufacturers to use uniform terminology when labeling their products, and AB 2577 is a companion bill that would establish a regulatory process for evaluating these types of requirements
Farmworker and Food Chain Worker Advancement
SB 1089 (Smallwood-Cuevas) – Grocery and Pharmacy Closure Notice
Requires 90-day notice to workers and community for proposed grocery or pharmacy store closure. Notice will also be sent to CDSS to maintain a list of up to date grocery stores that accept food benefits. Bill is part of CA Legislative Black Caucus’s Reparations Package
SB 1105 (Padilla) – Leave for Farmworkers During Climate Emergencies
Requires that paid sick leave granted to agricultural employees can also be utilized to avoid smoke, heat, or flooding conditions created by a local or state emergency, allowing workers to avoid personal financial ruin when they need to stay home from work for their safety
Additional priority bills for the CA Farmworker Advocacy Working Group can be found here.
Regional Food Ecosystems
AB 1961 (Wicks) – Strategic Masterplan to End Hunger in CA
Creates a taskforce of state and community representatives to develop a strategic master plan aimed at ending hunger in CA through intersectional lenses
AB 408 (Wilson) – Food & Agriculture Climate Resilience Bond
Puts a $3.6 billion bond measure in front of California voters to invest in programs and infrastructure to strengthen our food and farming system across agriculture, farmworkers, healthy and culturally relevant food access, and regional food economies.
AB 2313 (Bennett) – Regional Farmer Equipment & Cooperative Resources Assistance Pilot Program
Establishes a program at the California Department of Food and Agriculture to fund resource conservation districts, County agricultural commissioners, University of California Cooperative Extensions, tribal entities, and nonprofits serving small, socially-disadvantaged and/or limited resource farmers to run equipment sharing programs to make it easier for farmers to access the equipment needed to implement agroecological practices.
Support for Additional Food and Farming Issues
The following legislation was also chosen as important issues to support.
AB 1864 (Connolly) – Pesticide Use Near Schools
AB 2150 (Arambula) – Public Social Services in Higher Education
AB 2595 (L. Rivas) – Summer Caregiver Meals
AB 2786 (Bonta) – Mobile Farmers’ Markets
SB 675 (Limón) – Prescribed Grazing for Wildfire Mitigation
SB 1448 (Hurtado) – Increasing small farm access to land and markets
CFFN’s positions on legislation do not necessarily represent the positions of all of our members.
