Bill Name: Food Desert Elimination Grant Program

Bill Number: SB-18

Bill Author(s): Senator Susan Rubio

Legislative Session / Year: 2025

State: California

AVFCA Position: Support

Bill Synopsis: This bill creates the Food Desert Elimination Grant Program in the Department of Food and Agriculture to expand access to healthy, affordable groceries in USDA-defined food deserts and communities at risk of becoming food deserts. SB-18 establishes a dedicated fund that can draw on state, federal, and private financing to offer grants to both large and small grocery operators to open, expand, or sustain full-service markets in underserved areas. By directly investing in retail food infrastructure where it is lacking or at risk, the bill is intended to shrink food deserts and improve reliable access to nutritious options for residents across California.