republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/sb-557.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Food donations and pupil meals: schools."
description: "The California Retail Food Code establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities and various types of food. Under existing law, local health agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing the California Retail Food Code. A violation of any of these provisions is a crime. Existing law generally prohibits food that is unused or returned by the consumer, after being served or sold and in the possession of a consumer, from being offered as food for human consumption. Existing law authorizes a container of food that is not potentially hazardous to be transferred from one consumer to another if the food is dispensed so that it is protected from contamination and the container is closed between uses or if the food is in an unopened original package and is maintained in sound condition, and if the food is checked periodically on a regular basis."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 557"
citation: "California SB 557 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Food donations and pupil meals: schools."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hernandez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 31
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/992a23aa-74f7-4743-a1a7-bf756cb5e15f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557"
source_hash: "7efda2665c76b1170218db92208407fcdca0dd63b8051960979deb9740917f34"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 557 (20172018) — Food donations and pupil meals: schools.

The California Retail Food Code establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities and various types of food. Under existing law, local health agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing the California Retail Food Code. A violation of any of these provisions is a crime. Existing law generally prohibits food that is unused or returned by the consumer, after being served or sold and in the possession of a consumer, from being offered as food for human consumption. Existing law authorizes a container of food that is not potentially hazardous to be transferred from one consumer to another if the food is dispensed so that it is protected from contamination and the container is closed between uses or if the food is in an unopened original package and is maintained in sound condition, and if the food is checked periodically on a regular basis.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/16/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55799INT)
2. **03/28/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55798AMD)
3. **04/17/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55797AMD)
4. **06/22/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55796AMD)
5. **09/25/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55794CHP)
6. **SB557** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557)
7. **09/07/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB557&version=20170SB55795ENR)

## Votes

- Special Consent SB557 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 557 Hernandez Consent Calendar Second Day — **73–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hernandez — primary (person)
- Gonzalez Fletcher — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and ED. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-29** Set for hearing April 5.
- **2017-04-06** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on ED. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 624.) (April 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-04-13** Set for hearing April 26.
- **2017-04-17** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 848.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-01** Set for hearing May 8.
- **2017-05-03** May 8 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-05-04** Set for hearing May 15.
- **2017-05-08** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-09** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1073.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-16** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and ED. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** June 13 set for second hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-06-21** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on ED. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-22** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-07-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-08-23** Coauthors revised.
- **2017-08-23** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 2854.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2017-09-01** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-05** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2480.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2017-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 285, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/992a23aa-74f7-4743-a1a7-bf756cb5e15f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).