Bill would increase access to healthy foods for low-income Californians
(SACRAMENTO, CA) –– The State Senate Committee on Finance and Governance passed Assembly Bill 515 relating to a food bank tax credit. This bill would increase access to healthier foods to food banks and low-income Californians by offering California agricultural producers a 20 percent tax credit for the wholesale value of foods donated to local food banks. AB 515 is being authored by Assemblymember Susana Talamantes Eggman and co-authored by local Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella).
“As a co-author to this bill, I applaud Assemblymember Eggman’s attention to this issue. This would be of great benefit to our food banks and farmers in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys. California’s agricultural industry alone leads the nation, but more than 6 million Californians suffer from food insecurity,” said Assemblymember Garcia. “This bill would provide additional support to the agricultural community and in turn increase access to complete nutrition.”
In 2011, AB 152 established a 10% tax credit for the donation of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables to food banks located in California. Now in 2015, AB 515 seeks to expand on the existing credit by increasing the credit percentage, and the food items eligible for the credit.
Specifically, AB 515 would:
- Allow a 15% credit under the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law for contributions of qualified donation items to a food bank.
- Qualifies the following items as donation items: Fruits, nuts, or vegetables. Meat food products. Poultry, eggs, fish, rice and beans. Vegetables in canned, frozen, dried, dehydrated, and 100 percent juice forms. Any cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, and dehydrated milk. Infant formula, vegetable oil and olive oil. Soup, pasta sauce, and salsa. Bread and pasta. Canned meats and canned seafood.
- Define a qualified taxpayer as a person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, harvesting the crop from land, growing or raising a qualified donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a qualified donation item.
AB 515 is being supported by the Imperial Valley Food Bank, FIND Food Banks, Riverside and the Western Growers Association. This bill now heads to the Senate Committee on Appropriations for a vote.
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Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) serves as the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy. He represents the 56th district, which comprises the cities and communities of Blythe, Brawley, Bermuda Dunes, Calexico, Calipatria, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, North Shore, Salton Sea, Thermal, Thousand Palms, and Westmorland.
