Public educational institutions: purchase of nondomestic agricultural food products.

Existing law requires all California state-owned or state-run institutions, except public universities and colleges and school districts, to purchase an agricultural product grown in California when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Existing law also requires the institutions, when they solicit or intend to accept a bid or price for agricultural products grown outside the state, to accept the bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products in the state before accepting a bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products outside of the state when specified conditions are met. Existing law requires a school district that solicits bids for the purchase of an agricultural product to accept a bid or price for that agricultural product when it is grown in California before accepting a bid or price for an agricultural product that is grown outside the state when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Under existing law, these provisions only apply to a contract to purchase agricultural products for a value that is less than the value of the threshold for supplies and services for which California has obligated itself under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. This bill would change the above-described requirement for school districts to apply to the purchase of a domestic agricultural product that is grown outside the state, instead of an agricultural product that is grown outside of the state. The bill would also prohibit the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and all local educational agencies that solicit bids for the purchase of an agricultural food product from purchasing, and would request the University of California not to purchase, agricultural food products grown, packed, or processed nondomestically, unless the bid or price of the nondomestic agricultural food product is more than 25% lower than the bid or price of the domestic agricultural food product, the quality of the domestic agricultural food product is inferior to the quality of the agricultural food product grown, packed, or produced nondomestically, or the agricultural food product is not produced or manufactured domestically in sufficient and reasonably available quantities of a satisfactory quality to meet the needs of meals provided under the school meal program of the public postsecondary educational institution or local educational agency. The bill would provide that the bill's provisions neither limit nor expand California's obligations under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. The bill would define the term "agricultural food product" for purposes of the prohibition to mean a fresh or processed product, as specified. The bill would provide that this prohibition does not apply to agricultural food products purchased by or provided to a public postsecondary educational institution or local educational agency through the United States Department of Agriculture. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2024. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties for school districts and community colleges, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.