BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 751
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 751
(Cooper) - As Introduced February 25, 2015
SUBJECT: Vertebrate pest control research: repeal extension.
SUMMARY: Extends the Vertebrate Pest Control Research (VPCR)
Program and Advisory Committee until January 1, 2026.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the California Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA) to establish and administer a research program to
control vertebrate pests, as specified.
2)Requires CDFA to establish the VPCR Advisory Committee, and
requires the Advisory Committee to make recommendations to
CFDA regarding VPRC each year.
3)Requires each county agricultural commissioner to pay a
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specified fee to CDFA based on the amount of vertebrate pest
control material sold, distributed, or applied in the county.
4)Establishes the VPCR Account in the CDFA Fund, and
continuously appropriates the funds in the account for
purposes of carrying out the provisions relating to VPRC.
5)Repeals all of the provisions specified above on January 1,
2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill has been keyed fiscal by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: The VPCR Program was established in 1990, in response
to changes by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
that relate to the requirements of manufacturers of rodenticides
and similar products. The manufacturers concluded that they
could not recover the cost for development of such data and
dropped the registration of the products. CDFA recognized that
there was a need for such products and developed an oversight
and fiscal structure to support the research and funding of data
requirements for EPA, thereby creating this research program.
The VPCR law was updated in 2005 to provide a more defined scope
for this research program, as well as, better parameters on how
the funds are used. CDFA, upon recommendation from the VPCR
Advisory Committee, may charge up to one dollar per pound of
vertebrate pest control material sold, distributed, or applied.
The VPCR program focuses on finding safer alternative methods to
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control pest. The research is funded with the sale of
rodenticides, which has helped develop or improve control of
vertebrate pests. The program raises and spends an average of
roughly $480,000 per year. The author states that without this
program, CDFA loses the authority to register rodenticides and
could cause the rodenticides to be unavailable to the public.
The sunset to these provisions has been extended three times, in
1995, 2000 and 2005. This bill will extend the VPCR Program and
Advisory Committee until 2026.
The Committee may wish to consider the policy of extending the
sunset ten years versus eliminating the sunset. If the VPCR
program has benefited the affected parties and there is no
controversy regarding the structure, eliminating the sunset
could provide more stability to long term research projects.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Fresh Fruit Association
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California Alfalfa & Forage Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084