The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) There are many Californians who lack adequate access to healthy food.

(b) The lack of access to healthy food falls disproportionately on disadvantaged urban and rural communities.

(c) These same communities also suffer from an increased rate of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions related to poor diet.

(d) Facilitating access to healthy food in these communities is needed to address the gaps in the food distribution system and help mitigate the health consequences of this inadequacy.

(e) There are many county, state, federal, and private organizations attempting to address this issue, but there is no state-level body charged with coordinating these activities.

(f) A state-level office, charged with coordinating and facilitating food access, can increase the effectiveness of ongoing programs and ensure that efforts and funding are not duplicated.

(g) The Department of Food and Agriculture is uniquely situated to administer this office because of the department’s knowledge of the agricultural industry, and its ability to bring farmers together with hunger relief organizations, partner agencies, schools, colleges, community organizations, and others to increase the availability of healthy food.

(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 583, Sec. 1. (AB 2413) Effective January 1, 2015.)