BILL NUMBER: SB 730	CHAPTERED  10/07/05

	CHAPTER  685
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 7, 2005
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 7, 2005
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 29, 2005
	PASSED THE SENATE  MAY 9, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 19, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Speier

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2005

   An act to add Section 110827 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to organic products.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 730, Speier  Organic products: aquaculture products.
   The California Organic Products Act of 2003 regulates the
production of products sold, labeled, or represented as organic. The
act requires producers, handlers, and processors of organic products
to pay a registration fee to the State Department of Health Services
based on gross sales of products sold as organic in the calendar year
that precedes the date of registration. The act makes it a crime for
any person to sell, offer for sale, advertise, or label any product
in violation of the act.
   This bill would prohibit any aquaculture, fish, or seafood product
from being labeled or represented as "organic" until formal organic
certification standards have been developed and implemented by the
United States Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program or
by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Because a
violation of this prohibition would be a crime under existing
provisions of law, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program by changing the definition of a crime.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) It is the Legislature's intent in enacting this act to prevent
consumers from being misled by the organic label on certain fish and
seafood.
   (b) There are currently no standards in place for what organic
seafood must mean and, at this time, any seafood can be claimed as
organic. This is a serious deviation from what consumers expect from
other organic food that meets strict federal standards for organic
production and is verified by an organic certifier. In fact, seafood
contaminated with mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls and labeled
with Proposition 65 warnings regarding chemicals known to the state
to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity can also carry the organic
label.
   (c) While the United Stated Department of Agriculture is in the
process of establishing organic standards for seafood, the federal
department has refused to prohibit the organic label on fish.
   (d) This act will protect organic farmers, certifiers, and
consumers by prohibiting substandard organic food from being sold in
the marketplace.
  SEC. 2.  Section 110827 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   110827.  No aquaculture, fish, or seafood product, including, but
not limited to, farmed and wild caught species, shall be labeled or
represented as "organic" until formal organic certification standards
have been developed and implemented by the United States Department
of Agriculture's National Organic Program or the California
Department of Food and Agriculture.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.