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Committee advances SB 18 to create food-desert grant program for grocery stores

3169846 · April 29, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Senator Rubio presented SB 18 to create a Food Desert Elimination Grant Program at CDFA that would award grants to grocery operators to open or expand stores in food-desert communities.

Senator Rubio, the bill's author, presented SB 18 to the Senate Agriculture Committee as a proposal to establish a Food Desert Elimination Grant Program at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). "This bill will authorize the department to award grants to grocery stores, operators to support the opening of new grocery stores in food desert communities," Rubio said, describing the bill as intended to increase access to fresh, affordable food in areas lacking grocery options.

Leticia Garcia of the California Grocers Association described the scale and cost of opening grocery stores and urged support. "It's a very hefty investment that our grocers have to make minimum it's a $15,000,000…

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