California Legislation AB 817 and SB 716

Statement from Sara M. Stickler
GCCA President and CEO

Our industry feeds families and protects access to medicines. California should not make that mission harder or more expensive.

In recent weeks, the Global Cold Chain Alliance has been deeply engaged with California policymakers regarding two emerging state-level bills, AB817 and SB716. These pieces of legislation were introduced in response to a June 17th warehouse fire in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

What happened at the Boyle Heights facility was a catastrophe. There are incredible lessons here, and opportunities for future improvements in emergency preparedness and response processes for industrial sites.

The cold chain sector is committed to working with the legislature, community leaders, and the Governor’s office to bring forward the right policies and recommendations with the knowledge and analysis of the full understanding of the causes of this incident and its response. These current bills are rushed and do not benefit the community or the long-standing businesses that have been community members and leaders for decades.

The temperature-controlled supply chain is an essential part of our critical global infrastructure. It helps ensure consumers have access to fresh food, lifesaving medicines, and other important products every day. AB817 and SB716 would raise cold storage costs across California’s food and pharmaceutical supply chain — affecting growers, processors, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers — while limiting facility improvements like energy efficiency upgrades and safety improvements and causing serious barriers to doing business in the state.

Small and mid-sized operators, many of them family-owned businesses, will be hit hardest by this legislation. A standing multimillion-dollar fund discourages new and existing cold storage at a time when extreme heat requires more consistent upgrades and the state’s food supply chain already faces capacity pressure. AB 817 provides no formula of predictability or mechanism for implementation and oversight, meaning instability for businesses in the state. As such facilities, jobs, and tax revenue will be diverted to other states, meaning California consumers will pay more for their groceries.

California needs more cold storage capacity, not policies that make investment riskier and more expensive. Our industry and our members need the flexibility to make ongoing safety, efficiency, and resiliency upgrades.

We can’t afford to rush policies that slow critical investments. Let’s veto these bills, bring stakeholders to the table, and get emergency preparedness policy right instead of rushing legislation that needs more work.  Let’s not make California families pay the price.

Learn more at www.gcca.org/about/advocacy/ab817-sb716/

Sara M. Stickler
President and CEO,
Global Cold Chain Alliance