BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
929 (Blakeslee)
Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 06/29/2009
Consultant: Mark McKenzie Policy Vote: L Gov 4-1
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 929 would authorize the Director of the
Department of Conservation (DOC) to issue grants for specified
agricultural conservation easements, and prohibit the use of
funds from the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund for
the new easements authorized by this bill.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Easement acquisition unknown significant cost pressures to
Bond*/
use existing bond funds, and provide new
Federal
funding for the authorized easements
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* Flood protection corridor funds included in the Disaster
Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Fund of 2006 (Proposition
1E). Future bond, special, federal funds.
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Existing law establishes the California Farmland Conservancy
Program (CFCP), which is administered by DOC. CFCP supports
local efforts to conserve agricultural land by providing
competitive grant funds (currently Propositions 12 and 40) for
the purpose of agricultural conservation easements.
Agricultural conservation easements are deed restrictions that
ensure a given piece of agricultural land can never be used for
purposes that will interfere with farming, while leaving farmers
free to make all ongoing land management decisions. CFCP funds
cannot be granted for easements that in any way restrict
agricultural practices.
AB 929 would authorize the Director of DOC to make grants from a
source other than the CFCP Fund for the acquisition of
agricultural conservation easements that meets the purposes of
the California Farmland Conservancy Act and all of the
following:
The easement's primary purpose is consistent with, and will
not substantially prevent, continuing agricultural use of the
easement property.
Any restrictions on the agricultural use of the easement would
only be imposed on areas of the easement property that are not
in cultivation.
If the easement has qualities that meet the original purpose
of the funding source as cultivated land, the property may
continue to be commercially cultivated with minimal
restrictions to meet the requirements of the funding source.
Protected non-agricultural qualities must be inherent to the
easement property.
Any subsequent easement or deed restriction would be
subordinate to the conservation easement and require the
approval of the director of DOC.
This bill would also create the Farm, Ranch, and Watershed
Account in the Soil and Conservation Fund to make grants for
these easement acquisitions.
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AB 929 (Blakeslee)
This bill would allow DOC to use funds, other than those
provided to CFCP, for the acquisition of conservation easements,
including funds provided in the bond package approved by the
voters in November 2006. These easements could be more flexible
than CFCP grants by protecting agricultural lands that offer
additional resource protection purposes such as wildlife
habitat, open space, flood protection, and recreational use.
Proposition 1E earmarks $290 million of state general obligation
bond proceeds to protect, create or enhance flood protection
corridors and bypasses through, among other actions, acquisition
of easements while preserving agricultural use or wildlife uses.
According to the Natural Resources Agency, approximately $191
million of these funds have not been appropriated. Proponents
indicate that there are no remaining Proposition 84 bond funds
that would be eligible for the uses authorized under AB 929.
Since its creation, DOC has awarded $60 million in grants
through CFCP for the completion of 118 agricultural conservation
easements covering 36,856 acres. The average state grant amount
is $508,475. To date, approximately 48% of the total cost of
the easements has come from state bond funds (primarily
Propositions 12 and 40), while the remainder of the funding
comes from land trusts (29%), the federal USDA Farm and Ranch
Lands Protection Program (17%), and private landowner donations
(5%).
The authority provided by this bill would only be used if the
DOC is awarded or becomes eligible for funds designed to protect
multiple resources, including agricultural resources. Apart
from the Proposition 1E flood protection funds, there is no
clear funding source available for easement acquisitions
envisioned by this bill. Furthermore, AB 929 creates a new
account within DOC's Soil and Conservation Fund as a placeholder
for any future funding that might become available for these
purposes. Staff notes that by creating a program for grants
that are not currently authorized under CFCP, AB 929 would
create substantial cost pressures on existing bond funds, and
create cost pressures to provide additional funding from other
sources, potentially in the millions of dollars annually, to
fund additional conservation easements. Any additional state
funds would only be authorized upon appropriation by the
Legislature. Staff notes that the General Fund support funding
for the CFCP ended in 2004-05, when all General Fund monies were
removed from the DOC's Division of Land Resource Protection and
replaced with support from the Soil Conservation Fund. It is
not likely that the General Fund would be used to fund
conservation easements authorized by this bill in the
foreseeable future.
Staff notes that this bill is nearly identical to AB 1180
(Blakeslee), which was held on this Committee's Suspense File in
2007.