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| Nutrition Action Update | January 10, 2008 |
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With a projected $14.5 billion shortfall, the budget outlook for 2008 is not pretty. In such dire budget times, actions to improve the fiscal situation generally fall into two categories - cutting government expenditures and increasing government revenues. As discussed in his recent State of the State address and as reflected in the budget he released today, the Governor's solution is to cut expenditures without increasing revenues. However, as Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez pointed out in their response to the Governor's speech, cuts in expenditures alone will not solve the budget crisis.
As he announced in December, the Governor declared a fiscal emergency today, which establishes a special session of the Legislature to deal with budget issues. In his recent State of the State address, he also announced his plans to propose the Budget Stabilization Act - a constitutional amendment that would require cuts in spending during deficit years and contributions to a "rainy day fund" during flush budget years. Click here for more information on the Governor's plan for stabilizing the budget.
Any responsible discussion of solving California's budget problems must include both cuts in expenditures as well as revenue generation, including strategies such as closing tax loopholes and increasing taxes. We believe that the current budget deficit presents an opportunity to create long-term, beneficial changes to reform California's budget process to help ensure more stable revenues for the state.
Links to more analysis and reporting on the State of the State address and the budget situation:
Sac Bee: "Schwarzenegger calls for sweeping state cuts" LA Times: "Schwarzenegger unveils proposed budget cuts"
Nutritional Analysis of the Governor’s Budget
We've compiled a quick and rough analysis of the nutritional impact of the Governor's Budget. In the coming days and weeks, we'll update this analysis with more specifics, such as details on numbers of people affected. However, this analysis should give you some understanding of the budget's impact on nutrition. Also, as more details on the budget emerge, the numbers and information in this analysis may change.
Stay tuned - we'll update you as we learn more.
With the Senate and the House of Representatives both having passed their versions of the Farm Bill, a conference committee made up of delegates from both the Senate and the House must meet to settle differences between the two bills. While both versions of the bill contain improvements to the Food Stamp Program, on some issues, the House bill contains certain provisions that represent bigger steps forward than the Senate bill, and on other issues, it is vice versa. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has this useful comparison of the two bills, highlighting the key differences and similarities.
At this point, it appears that the conference committee will not convene until mid-February with negotiations possibly continuing until mid-March. All indications currently suggest that Congressman Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino area) will serve on this committee. Although the conference committee may not meet for over a month, informal negotiations are underway and your voice needs to be heard. Our friends at FRAC have prepared this alert with general messages on the Farm Bill.
In the coming weeks, we plan on providing California specific messages to let Representative Baca and any other potential conferees from California know our priorities.
As we reported in our previous alert, the end of 2007 brought an exciting opportunity to the summer food landscape in California with Congress and the President approving a spending bill that expanded the "Simplified" Summer Food Service Program to all states. Previously a pilot in 26 states and Puerto Rico, the purpose of this program was to make accounting procedures easier and thereby encourage participation by eligible sponsors in order to feed more hungry children when school is out of session. States' experiences with the pilot demonstrate its effectiveness with participation rates in these states rising faster than in states without the pilot.
The simplified accounting procedures allowed under this program enables all SFSP sponsors to receive the maximum "meals times rates" operating and administrative reimbursements without comparison to actual or budgeted costs. Sponsors do not have to report costs to the State Agency nor do costs have to be categorized as "operational" or "administrative."
The end result of these technical accounting changes it to simplify administration of the summer food program and allow sponsors to feed more kids.
For more information about the expansion of this program and the changes it will bring about, please read this memo from the USDA. This is an exciting opportunity for California. Encourage local potential sponsoring agencies to consider providing summer meals. Also, tell current sponsoring agencies about the new rules of which they can take advantage. |
In this issue:
USDA Encourages Schools to Start Meeting the Dietary Guidelines
On December 17th, the USDA published a memo advising State Agencies to encourage School Food Authorities to begin to bring their school meals more in line with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines. Because they decided to contract with experts at the Institute of Medicine to provide recommendations for their formal rulemaking process for compliance with the Dietary Guidelines, the USDA may take over two years for formal rules to be set forth.
In the meantime, this recent memo from the USDA states that schools should take steps before these rules are introduced to come into compliance with the Dietary Guidelines. These steps include increasing servings of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, and foods high in fiber while decreasing sodium, cholesterol, and trans fats in school meals.
These recommendations represent a significant step forward for the nutrition in school meals. We are very pleased that USDA is encouraging schools to be proactive in implementing higher nutritional standards. This is an important development in our efforts to provide California’s children with more nutritious school breakfasts and lunches. To read the memo, please click here. Encourage your local schools to act on these thoughtful recommendations to improve the health and nutrition of California's youth!
February 13, 2008 - Sacramento!
There is still time to register for this year's forum. Click here for the registration page.
The nominations are in for the 2008 Stampy Awards. As a voting member of the Academy (which includes anyone who cares about food stamps in California), we ask that you cast your vote for the best efforts to improve the Food Stamp Program. The winners will be announced at the 9th Food Stamp Forum at the historic Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento on February 13th.
Vote for The Stamp Awards!
Polls Close on January 13th at Midnight! |
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Contact: schandran@cfpa.net
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