BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 751


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          Date of Hearing:   April 22, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          751 (Cooper) - As Introduced February 25, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill extends the Vertebrate Pest Control Research Program  
          and Advisory Committee within the Department of Food and  
          Agriculture (DFA), until January 1, 2026.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Annual special fund costs of approximately $500,000 for program  
          research and activities, funded through a $0.50 assessment per  
          pound on pest control materials.  Over recent years, assessment  
          revenues have been sufficient to fund program research and  








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          activities.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  The Vertebrate Pest Control Research (VPCR) Program  
            focuses on finding safe alternative methods to control  
            vertebrate pests.  Research and activities are funded with an  
            assessment on the sale of rodenticides, which raises  
            approximately $500,000 per year.  The author asserts that  
            without this program, DFA would lose its authority to register  
            rodenticides, which could result in rodenticides becoming  
            unavailable in California.


          2)Vertebrate Pest Control Research Program and Advisory  
            Committee.  The VPCR Program was established in 1990 following  
            changes by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  
            to data submission requirements for registering rodenticides  
            and similar products.  Certain manufacturers of rodenticides  
            had withdrawn registration of their products with the EPA as a  
            result of additional costs from the data submission  
            requirements.


            DFA created the VPCR Program and Advisory Committee to support  
            research and funding to meet the EPA's data requirements for  
            registration of rodenticides, enabling manufacturers to  
            continue developing and register their products for use.   
            Funding is supported with an assessment on pest control  
            materials, which DFA may set at up to $1.00 per pound.  For  
            several years, that assessment has remained at $0.50 per  
            pound, which the VPCR Advisory Committee contends is  
            sufficient to support current research and activities.


          3)Permanent Program?  Given this program has existed 25 years  
            and continues to function at current funding levels despite  








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            significant headroom in the statute for DFA to raise fees, the  
            Committee may wish to consider whether eliminating the sunset  
            would provide even greater stability to the program and its  
            research projects.





          Analysis Prepared by:Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081