Governor Signs 2006-07 Budget; Major Nutrition Victory!

On Friday, June 30, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the 2006-07 budget—and continued his far-reaching, visionary Nutrition Revolution. As you’ll see below, he has created new opportunities to make sure Californians have better access to healthier food. As advocates, we’ll have to point out our very small concerns, but the major message here is, without a doubt, thank you, Governor, for putting the nutrition needs of low-income kids and families at the top of your list and thank you Action Alert readers for your tireless efforts in making nutrition a big, big winner in California’s budget process.

Here’s a quick run-down of the budget details:

• School Breakfast Start-Up & Expansion Grants: $3 million, up from the historic level of $1 million, with language linking the grants to expanded access to School Breakfast and the success of the California Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Pilot Program.

• Tying Meal Reimbursement to Standards: Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the school meal reimbursement, and we’re happy about this? Yes, because his veto message made it very clear that he supports a higher rate of reimbursement—but he wants to see it tied to nutrition standards. As he noted in his veto message, California focused intensely on getting junk foods out of schools; now it’s time to improve the reimbursable meals. Because the Governor has the power to push for standards AND get the money, we are comfortable as advocates that we can have our (healthy) cake and eat it too! Stay tuned for opportunities to help press for meaningful standards!

• Support for Nutrition Services: The budget includes $400,000 to support two positions to help staff the California Fresh Pilot Program and $3.2 million to support the Child Nutrition Information Payment System.

• School Gardens. The budget includes $15 million in Proposition 98 reversion funds to “revitalize the School Garden Program.”

• Direct Certification Fix. AB 1385 (Laird) needed a technical budget fix and this item remained in the Governor’s final budget.

• Physical Education Funds. The final budget included $40 million for physical education improvement, plus additional funds through a block grant. Earlier in the process, there was a risk that all of the money would be block-granted.

• Statewide Obesity Prevention Planning. The Governor reaffirmed his commitment to fund obesity-prevention measures in the future, including ways to promote access to fruits and vegetables in low-income communities. We believe the funding for AB 2384 would fit well in this program.

• Full Increase for CalWORKs and the January SSI COLA. The budget which includes the entire $100 million in increased CalWORKs funds, the restoration of the SSI COLA beginning in January 2007 and the $75 million increase in foster care funds. The CalWORKs funding represents the first time California has budgeted above the 75% of the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) level.

The one piece of disappointing news is that the $1 million for the Farm to Family and Donate Don't Dump programs was vetoed. In their alert about this turn of events, the California Association of Food Banks gave a special thanks to Senator Maldonado for his leadership on this issue and promised that they are regrouping to figure out their next steps.

Update

First Lady Maria Shriver To Connect Californians with Food Stamps. California First Lady Maria Shriver is coming to the Watsonville  Farmers' Market as part of “Connect California,” her statewide campaign to help California families access government assistance programs that are too often underused, with a special emphasis on the Food Stamp/EBT program. The First Lady is focused on increasing participation in the Food Stamps Program and in using food stamps to purchase healthy food, such as that found at Farmers’ Markets. The health fair is scheduled for July 21 , 2006 3-7pm at the Watsonville Farmer's Market (Main & Peck Street, Watsonville). Please contact  Shebreh Kalantari at (831) 465-2207 or skalantari@unitedwaysc.org for more information. CFPA, Second Harvest Food Bank, Go for Health Collaborative, United Way and other project partners hope to see you there! A flyer will be available on the CFPA website shortly.