BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 914|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 914
Author: Atkins (D)
Amended: 6/13/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/21/11
AYES: Cannella, Rubio, Berryhill, Evans, La Malfa, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/12/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : State Commissions: market information
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill (1) authorizes the California Avocado
Commission to require avocado producers to provide
information pertaining to locations at which avocados are
produced and the annual volume of avocados produced at each
location and to use the information provided for specified
purposes, (2) increases the number of prior crop years used
to determine the reapportion of avocado districts, and (3)
requires the California Cut Flower Commission to annually
specify the types and varieties of cut flowers from willing
producers of sales on commission-determined varieties of
cut flowers and requires dissemination of that information
to these producers, as specified.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the California Avocado Commission (CAC) to,
among other duties, promote avocado sales. The CAC is
required to establish five districts within the state
with each representing 20 percent of the state's avocado
production and reapportion those districts every fifth
year according to specified procedures, including by
determining the average number of pounds of fruit
produced in each ZIP Code area in the two crop years
prior to a specified referendum.
2. Creates the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) with
specified duties and powers, including, but not limited
to, conducting, and contacting with others to conduct,
production research, including the study, analysis,
accumulation, and dissemination of information obtained
from that research.
This bill:
1. Increases from two years to five years the number of
prior avocado crop years used by the CAC to determine
the average number of pounds produced in each California
postal ZIP Code area and statewide average.
2. Requires avocado producers to provide the commission
with the location at which avocados are produced and the
annual volume of avocados produced at each location,
information that may be used for food safety,
communications, reapportionment of districts, and to
conduct elections and referenda.
3. Requires the CCFC to collect market price information
from willing producers of sales on commission-determined
varieties of cut flowers in order to prevent unfair
trade practices.
4. Requires dissemination of the market price information
to the willing cut flower producers.
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5. Requires that information collected about individual cut
flower producers be kept confidential and not made
public.
6. Requires that the CCFC, with the approval of the
Department of Food and Agriculture, adopt procedures for
collection and dissemination of the market price
information on sales of specified cut flowers.
Background
The CAC was created to provide advertising, promotion,
education, and research for the benefit of California
avocado producers (AB 1602 (Suitt), Chapter 569, Statutes
of 1977). The 15-member commission is composed of 10
producers elected two from each of the five districts, four
handler members, and one public member. The CAC's
activities are supported by mandatory assessments on
avocado producers in California. The five districts of the
CAC producer members are reapportioned every five years
with each district representing 20 percent of the avocado
production in the state. The CAC determines every two
years the number of pounds of avocados produced in each
postal ZIP Code area and for the entire state. The CAC has
the authority to gather and disseminate sales marketing
information to prevent unfair trade practices.
The CCFC was established to promote and conduct research
for the California cut flower industry (AB 2575 (Farr),
Chapter 495, Statutes of 1990). The CCFC is composed of 13
members, 12 of which are producers and one public member.
Comments
California Cut Flower Commission . According to the
author's office, CCFC needs the authority given by this
bill to help prevent unfair trade practices within
California. By providing relevant market price
information, CCFC will be able to address and track
misinformation about commodity values, which can have a
negative financial impact on the growers who produce a
specific commodity. The United States flower market is
increasingly dominated by imported flowers. In 1971, the
United States produced 1.2 billion blooms of roses,
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carnations, and chrysanthemums and imported 100 million.
By 2003, the United States was importing two billion blooms
and growing only 200 million. Seventy percent of the
United States market (sold in supermarkets, big box stores,
and airport kiosks) consists of imported flowers from
Colombia though increasingly Ecuador and Kenya are
providing the United States with inexpensive bouquets as
both countries increase their flower exports and compete
with Colombia in the international flower market. As with
other agricultural products, California flower growers must
find a way to compete with a growing international industry
that produces large quantities of flower exports to feed
the demand for inexpensive flowers.
California Avocado Commission . Increasing the time for the
CAC to determine the average pounds of avocados produced to
five years will help the CAC look at production for the
entire period prior to the five-year reapportionment of the
producer districts. Requiring avocado producers to provide
the location and annual volume produced will aid the CAC in
the reapportionment process. This bill enhances the
timeliness and provides a better edge for the CAC to
address a food safety issue with location and production
information of California avocados.
This bill requires avocado producers to provide the
locations and the volume of avocados produced at each
location. In the unfortunate event of a food illness
outbreak linked to avocados, health agencies will be
tracking and tracing back individual fruits or lots to
their source. Typically, the handler provides the
trace-back information to the health investigator, as
handlers commonly track the sources of commodities handled
and shipped in the course of business. It does not seem
that general production information and location required
in this bill would be as useful as information available
from handlers on the source and disposition of contaminated
product when tracing the source and controlling food safety
outbreaks.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/12/11)
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California Avocado Commission
California Cut Flower Commission
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Cut Flower
Commission writes that the bill, "establishÝes] in statute
language similar to that in three other commissions
ÝCalifornia Apple Commission, California Avocado
Commission, and California Blueberry Commission]. As with
these other programs the Commission would be authorized to
address unfair trade practices such as marketplace actions
that result in misinformation about commodity value that is
ultimately detrimental to California's cut flower growers.
This would be done in accordance with procedures approved
by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. In an industry
dominated with cheap imported flowers, the net effect of AB
914 is to allow the market to fluctuate on credible
information, which would provide the opportunity for
California's growers to receive fair market value for their
California grown flowers."
The California Avocado Commission writes "Ýthis bill] will
benefit the reapportionment process and also ensure
traceability in the unlikely event of a food safety
incident. Information about where growers are situated and
the volume of their production is presently made available
to the Commission from the industry's avocado handlers, but
this information is often incomplete or inaccurate.
Improving the quality of data received would enable the
Commission to limit the risk to the industry at large and
shorten the response time when addressing a food safety
problem. The Commission is also well down the path of
establishing a Good Agricultural Practices standard for the
industry. Implementation of that standard would be
facilitated by an improved data set."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/12/11 (Consent)
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall,
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Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Cedillo, Conway, Garrick, Gorell,
Roger Hernández, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Portantino,
Torres
MEL:mw 7/12/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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