Senate Bill 490 and Reporting Price Gouging

Senate Bill 490 became effective January 1, 2024, and remains in effect through January 1, 2029. This new law applies to local educational agencies (LEA) who operate the School Nutrition Programs and annually receive more than $1,000,000 in federal meal reimbursement (which includes the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, and After School Snack Program).

In an effort to monitor price gouging associated with this law, we encourage LEAs who experience increases in the prices of agricultural food products to report the increase to the Nutrition Services Division (NSD). The increase must be 25 percent or more than the previous price and supporting documentation must be retained to support the complaint.

The process for reporting price gouging is listed below:

• Send an email to: NSDBuyAmericanProvision@cde.ca.gov​
  
  
• Include the following information in your email:​
  
  1. LEA name and contact person
  2. The contractor or vendor name the LEA is purchasing the agricultural food product(s) from
  3. The agricultural food product(s) name and quantity
  4. The original or current price​
  5. The new or proposed price
  6. Any supporting or relevant documentation. This may include, but is not limited to invoices, receipts, or a bill of sale.

If you have any questions or concerns, you may email the Nutrition Services Division at NSDBuyAmericanProvision@cde.ca.gov.