BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 929 HEARING: 7/8/09
AUTHOR: Blakeslee FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 6/29/09 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION EASESMENTS
Background and Existing Law
The California Farmland Conservancy Act allows the State
Department of Conservation to give grants to acquire
agricultural conservation easements and fee title interests
to preserve farmland (SB 1864, Costa, 2002). These
perpetual easements keep agricultural land in private
ownership while the owners voluntarily avoid development
for anything but agricultural production.
The Department has provided nearly $62 million in grants
through the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund
(CFCPF) for more than 125 agricultural conservation
easements covering over 41,000 acres. Among the many
requirements that apply to these grants, state law
prohibits grants funded through the CFCPF from imposing any
restrictions on commercial agricultural activities.
Some say that farm and ranch properties could be used for
multiple purposes, including flood corridors or habitat
preservation, but the statutory limits on agricultural
conservation easements makes the property ineligible for
CFCPF money. They want state officials to have more
flexibility in the rules that govern the agricultural
conservation easements that the Department of Conservation
funds.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 929 authorizes the Director of the California
Department of Conservation to make grants, from a source
other than the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund
(CFCPF), for the acquisition of agricultural conservation
easements, upon legislative appropriation.
AB 929 requires the Director to determine that those grants
are consistent with the purposes of the California Farmland
AB 929 -- 6/29/09 -- Page 2
Conservancy Act and requires that agricultural conservation
easements funded by those grants meet the following
requirements:
The easement's primary purpose must be consistent
with the property's continuing agricultural use.
The easement cannot substantially prevent
agricultural uses on the property.
Any restriction on the property's current or
foreseeable agricultural use must only be imposed to
restrict the property's uncultivated areas.
If the property's characteristics or qualities meet
the original purpose of the funding source as
cultivated land, the property may continue to be
commercially cultivated with the minimum restrictions
necessary to meet the original funding source
requirements.
The nonagricultural qualities that will be
protected by the easement must be inherent to the
property.
The easement must require that a subsequent
easement or deed restriction will be subordinate to
the agricultural conservation easement and require the
Director's approval.
The bill creates the Farm, Ranch, and Watershed Account in
the Soil and Conservation Fund to make grants that
implement its provisions.
Comment
More flexible farmland protection . Agricultural
conservation easements can't restrict commercial
agricultural activities. As a result, the Department of
Conservation cannot use CFCPF money to protect other
resource values on agricultural land if that protection
limits the property's agricultural use. By contrast, AB
929 allows the Department to use non-CFCPF funds as grants
to protect riparian zones, wildlife habitat, or flood
corridors while simultaneously keeping the farmed portions
in agricultural use. This more flexible approach to
agricultural conservation easements is similar to AB 1180
(Blakeslee, 2007) which the Senate Local Government
Committee passed on a 5-0 vote, but died on the Senate
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 929 -- 6/29/09 -- Page 3
Assembly Actions
Assembly Natural Resources Committee: 9-0
Assembly Agriculture Committee: 8-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee:17-0
Assembly Floor: 78-0
AB 929 -- 6/29/09 -- Page 4
Support and Opposition (7/2/09)
Support : California Council of Land Trusts, American Land
Conservancy, Audubon California, Bay Area Open Space
Council, Big Sur Land Trust, Bolsa Chica Land Trust,
California Coastal Coalition, California League of
Conservation Voters, California Rangeland Trust, Catalina
Island Conservancy, Central Valley Land Trust Council,
Defenders of Wildlife, Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Feather
River Land Trust, Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, Land
Trust of Napa, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Lassen Land
& Trails Trust, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Mendocino
Land Trust, Mountains Meadows Conservancy, Muir Heritage
Land Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council, Peninsula
Open Space Trust, Placer Land Trust, Planning and
Conservation League, Save Mt. Diablo, Sempervirens Fund,
Sequoia Riverlands Trust, Sierra-Cascade Land Trust
Council, Sierra Foothill Conservancy, Solano Land Trust,
Tri-Valley Conservancy, Truckee Donner Land Trust, Trust
for Public Land.
Opposition : Unknown.