BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1871
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1871 (Dickinson)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
AGRICULTURE 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-0
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|Ayes:|Eggman, Olsen, Dahle, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Pan, Quirk, Yamada | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Recasts and expands the requirements, exemptions, and
fees for Certified Farmers' Markets (CFM), their operators and
vendors, and adjacent non-agricultural markets, and increases
penalties for violations. This bill deletes the January 1, 2018
sunset provisions for this chapter, making its provisions
permanent. Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates and modifies crimes for misleading statements or
representations with respect to the area of production,
identity of producer, or manner of production, or use of the
term "California Grown," punishable by a fine of up to $2,500
or six months in county jail, or both.
2)Provides that, in lieu of prosecution, the Secretary of the
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) or county
agricultural commissioner (CAC) may levy a civil penalty
against violators of not less than $500 and not more than
$5,000 for each violation. Additionally, allows CDFA or CAC
to modify, suspend, revoke, or refuse, or condition the
issuance of a permit, registration, or certification, issued
under this chapter.
3)Creates the Direct Agricultural Marketing Penalty Account
(DAMPA) and requires all penalties collected under this
chapter to be deposited into DAMPA for use in investigations
and enforcement actions related to this chapter; authorizes a
continuous appropriation of DAMPA funds without regard to
AB 1871
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fiscal year.
4)Increases the CFM vendor fee from $0.60 per day, per stall, to
$2.00 per day, per stall, and expands the payment base from
CFM vendors to all vendors selling goods under the authority
of the CFM operator; allows the CFM operator to recover those
fees from vendors.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill has overall costs relating to oversight of
county programs and enforcement to be approximately $1.35
million to the CDFA Agriculture Fund, consisting of new
oversight and enforcement personnel at CDFA, as well as,
reimbursement to counties for investigative work at CFMs and the
point of production through cooperative agreements. The fee
revenue over the last five years, CDFA has collected between
$240,000 and $270,000 per year in vendor fees under the current
$0.60 fee. Assuming the number of markets and vendors remain
consistent, the $2.00 vendor fee would generate revenue between
$800,000 and $900,000 per year to CDFA. However, given that the
universe of vendors paying fees will expand to include all
vendors selling goods under the authority of the CFM operator,
total fee revenues to the CDFA Agriculture Fund is expected to
be $1.35 million.
COMMENTS : CFMs have become established in many California
communities, as have other outlets for direct marketing, such as
farm stands and community supported agriculture. There are
roughly 800 farmers' markets in California, a significant number
of which operate year-round. Following the enactment of the
Federal Farmer to Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976, CDFA
enacted regulations that exempted farmers from packing, sizing
and labeling requirements for fresh fruits, nuts, and
vegetables, and enabled them to sell products they grow at CFMs,
provided they receive certification from CAC. The certification
process is to guarantee the consumer that the product is grown
by the seller.
The success of CFMs has created community events around them.
Many CFMs have adjacent non-agricultural markets selling all
types of homemade and commercial products. There have been some
non-CFMs that sell agricultural products in competition with the
farmers within the CFM.
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As CFMs have become more popular, the willingness of a few
producers to sell whatever they could became a concern to many
CFM operators. In 1999, they came to the Legislature and
enacted a daily per stall fee of $0.60, intending it to be used
by CDFA and CAC for inspections and enforcement purposes. Due
to the growth of the program and reductions in the General Fund
to CDFA, and reductions to CACs budgets, the fee has had to be
used to administer the program and not for inspection and
enforcement, as it was intended.
This bill establishes a specific inspection and enforcement fee,
while increasing the amount of the daily stall fee, as well as
broadening the pool of payers to include those that participate
in adjacent non-agricultural markets. It prohibits the sale of
fresh whole agricultural products being sold at the adjacent
market, and it requires the producers to declare that they are
"selling what they grow," thereby creating a claim that can be
pursued by district attorneys or citizens, being modeled after
Business and Professions Code false advertising statutes.
See policy committee analysis for more details and specifics of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084
FN: 0003722