BILL ANALYSIS AB 1891 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1891 (Committee on Higher Education) - As Introduced: February 16, 2010 Policy Committee: Higher EducationVote:9-0 (Consent) Agriculture 8-0 (Consent) Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill restores in statute two University of California (UC) sustainable agricultural programs that were inadvertently deleted in 2009 legislation. Specifically, this bill restores the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) and the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) program. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible fiscal impact, as the bill simply reenacts in statute two current programs operated by UC. COMMENTS Purpose . AB 1182 (Brownley)/Chapter 386 of 2009, streamlined numerous higher education-related reporting requirements, but late amendments also inadvertently deleted the authorization of two sustainable agriculture-related programs at UC. At the request of UC, this bill restores the statutory authorization for the following: 1)SAREP, established in the 1980s, 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. SAREP has a national reputation for developing new practices, disseminating this information on agricultural sustainability, AB 1891 Page 2 and conducting research with growers on public and private land. 2)BIFS, established in 1994, provides UC Cooperative Extension services, training, and financial incentives to farmers who voluntarily participate in pilot projects to reduce their use of chemicals for agricultural production. BIFS projects use on-farm demonstrations and a collaborative model of outreach and extension involving public-private partnerships. Funds for BIFS have been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 9, California Department of Food and Agriculture's Buy California Initiative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, and the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081