SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) released the following statement after her bill successfully passed the Senate Human Services Committee. Senate bill 628, known as the Human Right to Food Act, declares it the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to access sufficient and healthy food.

“With 1 out of every 4 Californians not knowing where their next meal will come from, and approximately 10 million Californians struggling with food insecurity, it is important to establish a right to food in this state. Food access difficulties became even more prominent during the pandemic as an ever increasing number of families turned to food banks and nutritional assistance programs wherever the resources could be made available, with demand often having outpaced the available supplies.”

The bill directs all relevant state agencies, including the Department of Social Services, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health to consider the human right to food when revising, adopting or establishing policies, regulations or grant criteria when they are related to the distribution of food and nutrition assistance. SB 628 also requires reporting on the current and future status of food, food production and food assistance.

Senator Melissa Hurtado currently represents the 16th Senate District in the California Legislature, which includes portions of Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern Counties. Hurtado is Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, and a member of the Environmental Quality, Health, Human Services, and Natural Resources and Water Committee, and Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. 

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