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Assembly committee backs bill to fund state survey expansion to track food insecurity

California State Assembly — Higher Education Committee · April 14, 2026

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Summary

AB 1734 would fund and expand the California Health Interview Survey to better measure food insecurity (raising eligibility to 400% of the federal poverty level) after the suspension of the federal survey; witnesses estimated the two‑year pilot at $287,000 and emphasized the need for state action.

Assemblymember Stephanie presented AB 1734, the Count Hunger Act, saying the federal household food security survey had been defunded and California must step in to preserve data used to identify food insecurity.

"We cannot fight a problem we can't see," Stephanie said. Marshawn Tabin of the San Francisco Marin Food Bank and Maxwell Titsworth described CHIS as an existing state resource that can be expanded to cover households up to 400% of the federal poverty line and warned that without state funding the data will lapse.

Questions from members focused on cost, procurement and whether the work would be put to open bid; sponsors said CHIS already has infrastructure and that the $287,000 two‑year pilot is a cost‑effective use of existing systems. The committee voted to pass the measure as amended and refer it to Appropriations.