BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 2185 (Eggman) - Bees: foraging: state-owned lands.
Amended: April 23, 2014 Policy Vote: Ag 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2185 would direct the Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to
encourage apiculture on lands which those departments manage.
Fiscal Impact:
On-going costs of at least $110,000 annually from the
General Fund to DFW to develop and amend land use plans and
to process permit applications.
Unknown, but likely minor, revenue increases to the General
Fund for private use of a public lands.
Unknown liability costs to the state.
Background: Commercial beekeepers are currently allowed to use
some federal lands, including National Forests lands, for
temporary foraging. Additionally, DFW has allowed bee keeping on
its lands in some limited cases. DFW does not have an actual
policy on allowing beekeeping, commercial or otherwise, on their
lands but has handled requests by beekeepers on a case-by-case
basis.
Proposed Law: This bill would declare it the policy of the state
that DFW and DOT shall encourage apiculture on the lands that
those departments respectively manage.
Specifically, if either department is developing or amending
land use plans, it must maximize the coexistence and minimize
the conflict between apiculture and other public land uses,
values, and public safety; establish an efficient, effective,
and uniform system for the management and administration of
apiculture on public lands; and ensure that the state receives
an appropriate financial return from the use of a public
resources.
AB 2185 (Eggman)
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This bill would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to
assist DFW and DOT's efforts in allowing apiculture access to
state lands.
Related Legislation: AB 2777 (LaMalfa, 2008) would have required
the Resources Agency to establish a statewide policy on the use
of public lands for honeybee keeping. AB 2777 was held under
submission by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1912 (Evans) Chapter 585, Statutes of 2010 created the
California Apiary Research Commission to conduct research and
education programs regarding the health and welfare of honey
bees and the beekeeping industry.
Staff Comments: DFW manages over 570 properties in the state,
although only 14 are actively managed. These lands are held and
managed, either actively or passively, for wildlife habitat or
other resource values. Management of DFW lands for wildlife is
not necessarily innately consistent with apiary needs as
honeybees are non-native species which can have impacts on
native ecosystems. As such, developing land use plans for DFW
lands in accordance with this bill will require an increase in
staff workload. The amount of required staff time to develop an
appropriate or amend a land use plan to encourage apiculture on
the lands will vary with each of the DFW properties. The likely
workload is likely to necessitate at least $110,000 in staff
time annually. Because the DFW has no special funds that could
be used for this activity, these costs would be borne by the
General Fund.
This bill requires that the land use plans ensure that the state
receives an appropriate financial return from the use of a
public resource. Such a provision is similar to how fees are
required for use of federal lands for grazing purposes. Such a
requirement may result in some revenues to DFW to offset their
costs. However, it is anticipated that the usage of DFW lands
for apiary purposes is likely to be low based on the limited
requests that state resource lands have received in the past and
the fact that beekeeping is likely inconsistent with many of DFW
lands. Therefore, revenues are likely to be minor.
This bill also requires that DOT encourage apiculture use on DOT
managed lands. These properties are much less likely to have
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ecological issues to balance compared to DFW lands, thus
identifying lands that may be suitable for apiary purposes is
likely to be minor and absorbable. Leases of DOT lands for
apiary purposes may bring in some revenue, though similar to
revenues from DFW lands, staff believes such revenue is likely
to be minor.
To the extent that the DFW or DOT lands identified as suitable
for apiary purposes are open to the public, there may be
increased liability exposure to the state for any increased
hazards that the apiary activities may cause.