Bill Commons

CA SB 444

in committee

State Healthy Food Access Policy.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper

Quick answers

Did CA SB 444 pass?

Not yet. CA SB 444 is in committee as of 2025-08-29 and has not come to a final vote. Latest recorded action (2025-08-29): August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

What is CA SB 444 about?

Existing law establishes various food assistance programs, including the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law declares that it is the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to access sufficient affordable and healthy food. Existing law requires all relevant state agencies to consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and grant criteria are pertinent to the distribution of sufficient affordable food. This bill would revise that declaration to provide that every human being has the right to access sufficient affordable and healthy food that is locally grown and raised. The bill would require all relevant state agencies to consider that policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria that are pertinent to that policy. The bill would require specified state agencies to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027, at a minimum, their progress on revising, adopting, or establishing those pertinent policies, regulations, and grant criteria.

Who sponsors CA SB 444?

Hurtado is the primary sponsor of CA SB 444.

Description

Existing law establishes various food assistance programs, including the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law declares that it is the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to access sufficient affordable and healthy food. Existing law requires all relevant state agencies to consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and grant criteria are pertinent to the distribution of sufficient affordable food. This bill would revise that declaration to provide that every human being has the right to access sufficient affordable and healthy food that is locally grown and raised. The bill would require all relevant state agencies to consider that policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria that are pertinent to that policy. The bill would require specified state agencies to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027, at a minimum, their progress on revising, adopting, or establishing those pertinent policies, regulations, and grant criteria.

Introduced
2025-02-18
Latest action
2025-08-29 — August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Hurtadoauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2025-02-18

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

    introduction,reading-1,referral-committee

  2. 2025-02-19

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 21.

  3. 2025-02-26

    Referred to Com. on HUMAN S.

    referral-committee

  4. 2025-03-13

    Set for hearing April 7.

  5. 2025-04-08

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 682.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  6. 2025-04-09

    Set for hearing April 21.

  7. 2025-04-21

    April 21 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  8. 2025-05-16

    Set for hearing May 23.

  9. 2025-05-23

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1200.) (May 23).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  10. 2025-05-23

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  11. 2025-05-27

    Ordered to special consent calendar.

  12. 2025-05-29

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1326.) Ordered to the Assembly.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  13. 2025-05-29

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

    reading-1

  14. 2025-06-05

    Referred to Com. on HUM. S.

    referral-committee

  15. 2025-07-02

    From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 1).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  16. 2025-07-03

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  17. 2025-08-20

    August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  18. 2025-08-29

    August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2025-04-07 · pass · 5-0

    Member-level votes (5)
    • Pérez: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Limón: yes

  • Placed on suspense file

    2025-04-21 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Grayson: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Dahle: other

  • Do pass

    2025-05-23 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Caballero: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Dahle: other

  • Special Consent

    2025-05-29 · pass · 38-0

    Member-level votes (40)
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Grove: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Rubio: yes
    • Jones: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Padilla: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • McNerney: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Cortese: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • McGuire: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Hurtado: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Alvarado-Gil: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Limón: other
    • Reyes: other

  • Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2025-07-01 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Celeste Rodriguez: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Castillo: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB444

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Source and document changesStatus and relationship changes

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