BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1891
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Date of Hearing: April 6, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 1891 (Committee on Higher Education) - As Introduced:
February 16, 2010
SUBJECT : Sustainable agriculture research: agricultural
chemicals.
SUMMARY : Restores statutory mention of two University of
California (UC) sustainable agriculture programs that were
inadvertently deleted by legislative action in 2009.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Restores Food and Agricultural Code sections 550 through 555,
which define the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education Program (SAREP).
2)Restores Food and Agricultural Code sections 591 through 600,
which authorize the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems
(BIFS) program.
EXISTING LAW establishes UC as a public trust with full powers
of organization and government, as provided, and administered by
the UC Board of Regents.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Double-referral : This bill is double-referred to
the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
Background : Last year, AB 1182 (Brownley) was signed into law
(Chapter 386, Statutes of 2009), streamlining higher
education-related reporting requirements. However, late
amendments inadvertently deleted the authorization of two
sustainable agriculture-related programs at UC when it was too
late in the legislative process to correct the error. At the
request of UC, the author and Assembly Higher Education staff
agreed to support legislation in 2010 to restore the statutory
authorization for the two UC programs.
Need for this bill : SAREP and BIFS did not cease to exist when
they were deleted from statute, since legislation is not
necessary to create programs at UC (as a result of UC's
AB 1891
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Constitutional autonomy). However, statutory authorization of
SAREP and BIFS provides assurance to the sustainable agriculture
community that UC is committed to these programs.
SAREP and BIFS : In the 1980s, the Legislature established
SAREP, which was instrumental in helping a new generation of UC
agricultural researchers to incorporate sustainable and
environmentally-friendly practices into their vocabulary and
their scientific investigations. It also went a long way toward
building credibility for UC with the environmental community and
organic and transition growers and ranchers. SAREP has a
national reputation for developing new practices, disseminating
this information on agricultural sustainability, and conducting
research with growers on public and private land.
In response to growing interest in reducing risks associated
with pesticide exposure and reducing reliance on agricultural
pesticides, AB 3383 (Bornstein), Chapter 1059, Statutes of 1994,
was enacted, requesting the UC Regents establish BIFS and
providing $250,000 to fund five pilot programs to provide UC
Cooperative Extension services, training, and financial
incentives to farmers who voluntarily participated in pilot
projects to reduce their use of chemicals for agricultural
production. UC no longer receives funding for the BIFS program,
which is administered by SAREP. However, since 2000, UC has
collaborated with partners/project leaders throughout the state
to apply for funding of specific BIFS projects through United
States Environmental Protection Agency-Region 9's Food Quality
Protection Act competitive grants program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Food & Water Watch
University of California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960