BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1826
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Bill Dodd, Chair
AB 1826
(Mark Stone) - As Amended April 5, 2016
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Legislative Counsel RN 16 11934
SUBJECT: Organic products.
SUMMARY: Makes significant changes to the State Organic Program (SOP),
renaming it the California Organic Food and Farming Act (Act); changes
registration fees, funding and reporting requirements, among other
provisions. Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes current version of the bill.
2)Provides legislative findings regarding the SOP history and the
National Organic Program (NOP); duplication of fees and registration
requirements for California growers; enforcement by SOP and NOP; and,
declares that the purpose of amending SOP is to reform fees and
paperwork, and create a framework whereby the SOP enforcement
activities supplement the NOP-funded enforcement, in California.
3)Changes the title from the California Organic Products Act of 2003 to
the California Organic Food and Farming Act.
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4)States that the purpose of SOP is to require it to do the following:
a) Promote coordination of federal, state, and local agencies in
implementation of NOP;
b) Expand, improve, and protect the production of organic
products; and,
c) Provide technical assistance, education, outreach, and guidance
to the organic industry;
5)Permit the Secretary (Secretary) of the California Department of Food
and Agriculture (CDFA) to receive and expend state and federal funds
for activities authorized under this Act.
6)Adds that the Advisory Committee (AC) to the Act is required to
advise the Secretary on education, outreach, and technical assistance
for organic producers.
7)Expands and changes the make-up of the AC by adding a representative
from an accredited certifying agency operating within this state,
reducing from two to one member representing consumers.
8)Permits the Secretary, to the extent funds are available and in
consultation with the AC, to establish procedures for and conduct the
following activities:
a) Receive and investigate complaints filed by any person
concerning suspected acts of noncompliance with this Act or
federal organic standards.
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b) Conduct periodic spot inspections;
c) Conduct periodic prohibited substance testing on products
labeled as organic;
d) Conduct farmers' market inspections;
e) Expand, improve, and protect the production of organic
products;
f) Assist operations in achieving organic certification, including
transition to organic;
g) Provide technical assistance, education, outreach, and guidance
to the organic industry;
h) Reimbursement of investigation, enforcement, and market
surveillance expenses, including expenses incurred by any CAC for
actions conducted pursuant to this Act; and,
i) Conduct any hearings, appeals, mediations, or settlement
conferences from actions taken to enforce this chapter.
9)Requires any investigation, inspection, and prohibited material
testing reports be sent to the Secretary for any required enforcement
action.
10)Requires the Secretary to coordinate activities authorized under 7),
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and 8), with other county and state licensing, registration,
inspection and fee collection procedures applicable to registrants.
11)Adds the following definitions to the Food and Agricultural Code
(FAC):
a) Defines "accredited certification operation" to mean an entity
accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
to certify operations as compliant with the federal organic
standards.
b) Defines "certified operation" to mean a producer, handler, or
retail food establishment that is certified organic by and
accredited certification agency as authorized by the NOP.
c) Defines "data" to mean the information provided annually by
entities registered under the act including certified acreage and
gross product sales.
d) Defines "department" to mean the State Department of Public
Health (DPH).
e) Defines "director" to mean the Director of DPH and the State
Public Health Officer for DPH.
f) Defines "exempt operation" to mean a production or handling
operation that sells organic agricultural products but is exempt
from certification under NOP.
g) Defines "federal organic standards" to mean the federal
regulations governing production, labeling, and marketing of
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organic products under NOP, and any amendments to NOP or
regulations made subsequent to the enactment of this Act.
h) Defines "inspection" to mean the act of examining and
evaluating a production or handling operation to determine
compliance with state and federal law.
i) Defines "producer" to mean a person engaged in the business of
growing or producing food, fiber, feed, or other agricultural
-based consumer products.
j) Defines "prohibited substance" to mean a substance prohibited
for use in organic production or handling, or is not provided for
in state or federal law.
aa) Defines "residual testing" to mean an official or validated
analytical procedure that detects, identifies, and measures the
presence of chemical substances in or on raw or processed
agricultural products.
bb) Defines "retail food establishment" to mean a restaurant,
delicatessen, bakery, grocery store, or retail outlet with an
in-store food service or processed or prepared raw and
ready-to-eat food.
cc) Defines "State Organic Program" or "SOP" to mean a state
program that meets the requirements of NOP, is approved by the
Secretary of USDA, and is designed to ensure that a product sold
or labeled as organically produced under the NOP requirements is
produced and handled using organic methods.
12)Permits fees collected under the Act to be used, under advisement of
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the AC, for activities authorized by the Act, including assisting
operations in achieving certification, conducting education and
outreach, entering research and development partnerships, and
addressing production and marketing obstacles to the growth of the
organic sector.
13)Deletes the requirement that each registrant provide a copy of their
registration to each county agricultural commissioner (CAC) in which
they operate.
14)Requires, prior to the sale of any organic product, every person in
the production or handling of raw or agricultural products sold as
organic is required to register with CDFA, and requires annual
renewal of registration until no longer engaged in activities
requiring registration.
15)Revises the information required for registration, by deleting
detailed descriptions of facilities and locations, and instead
requires an address or parcel number, and uses the following
categories for purposes of registration:
a) Citrus;
b) Fruit and vegetable row crops;
c) Livestock and dairy;
d) Stone fruit
e) Tree fruit
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f) Tree nuts; and,
g) Other, including but not limited to, organic fallow ground,
herbs and mushrooms, cut flowers, and apiaries.
16)Revises fee schedule from a flat fee per total sales to an up to
fee, set by the Secretary in consultation with the AC, reduces three
fees as show below, and eliminates other fees for initial
registration and multi-ingredient products.
Current schedule AB 1826 Schedule
Gross Sales Fee Gross Sales Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------
|$10,001/25,00|$ 75 | | | |
|0 | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|-------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------|
|$25,001/50,00|$ 100 | |$10,000/50,00|$ 75 |
|0 | | |0 | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|-------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------|
|$50,000/100,0|$ 175 | | | |
|00 | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|-------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------|
|$100,001/250,|$ 300 | |$ |$ 100 |
|000 | | |50,000/250,000| |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------
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17)Exempts any adjustments of fee levels from the Office of
Administrative Law hearing requirements.
18)Deletes the provisions for a "public information sheet," replacing
it with requirement for CDFA or CAC to provide the name and address
of registrant, the nature of their business, and the names of all
certification agencies for the NOP or SOP.
19)Increases the fee cap the Secretary, in consultation with the AC,
may charge a certifying agency operation in California to $500, and
permits certifying agencies to submit annual registration fees and
application on behalf of their clients
20)Requires any certifying agency to make specified records available
to the Secretary of CAC within 72 hours of a request.
21)Replaces the detailed listing of required records to be kept by a
producer, handler, or retailer with the requirement that accurate and
specific records are kept as required by the Secretary, in
consultation with the AC.
22)Makes technical, clarifying and conforming changes.
EXISTING LAW: SOP is statutorily mandated to enforce the federal
Organic Food Production Act of 1990; NOP regulations; the California
Organic Products Act of 2003; and, SOP regulations. Every person
engaged in California in the production or handling of raw agricultural
products sold as organic, must register with CAC in the county of
principal operation prior to the first sale of the product. In
addition, every person engaged in this State in the processing or
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handling of processed products is required to register with DPH.
Generally, CDFA registers and enforces organic provisions related to
raw agricultural products while DPH registers and enforces organic
provisions related to processed organic products. SOP's enforcement
activities are coordinated with DPH, the USDA's NOP, and California's
CAC's SOP's activities include program administration; county biologist
training; spot inspections; residue testing and sampling; complaint
investigations; registration; and, providing information and guidance
to the California organic industry.
Federal law establishes NOP, which requires operations that produce or
handle organic agricultural products to comply with federal organic
standards and be certified by a certifying agent, as specified. NOP
has recognized SOP as a state organic program and has delegated
enforcement of federal organic standards and regulations to SOP.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS: The California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is a trade
association, as well as an approved organic certifying agent; they want
to bring more consistency to the state and federal programs by reducing
the required paperwork for farmers and reduce the cost of filing with
SOP. They state that much of the paperwork and fees are duplicative of
NOP, and that much of the information required of SOP is already
collected by the certifying agents. Further, they state that SOP puts
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California organic producers, processors and handlers at a competitive
disadvantage.
California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA)
have raised concerns over AB 1826, while supporting the proposed intent
of the bill. They have strong concerns with the change that sends
administrative penalties directly to CDFA rather than to the
investigating (county) agency and that the location of where producers'
products are handled and/or processed should be provided with the
registration. Additionally, they are concerns that the reduction in
fee revenues could reduce their ability to provide enforcement.
California was the first state to create an Organic Food Act in 1979.
In 1990, SOP was created under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990
which authorized USDA to establish the NOP regulations. USDA finished
development of NOP regulations in 2002. The purpose of these laws is
to ensure that the consumer is purchasing organic products when labeled
as organic.
According to USDA, organic agriculture has grown substantially over the
past years to an annual sales level of more than $39 billion in the
United States and over $75 billion worldwide. The numbers of certified
organic operations have significantly increased, continuing the trend
of double digit growth in the organic sector. According to new data,
there are now 21,781 certified organic operations in the United States.
California has roughly 4,160 registered organic operations. CDFA
estimates that California producers account for over 40% of the organic
production in the U.S.
AB 1826 proposes to rename the SOP registration fee to "fee for
producers for the purposes of funding the activities" authorized by the
Act, and make the fee schedule a hard cap rather than a fixed number.
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They reduce the fee for three different levels of gross sales by
combining them with a lower level and using the lower level's fee
amount. While a limited number of producers would benefit from the
lower fees, the bill provides the Secretary the ability to reduce all
levels of fees. The committee may wish to consider if lowering fees
for a limited number of participants, and not all, is an appropriate
policy.
This bill defines "department" as the DPH when used in this Act, and
then requires registration with the "department", while the intent is
to have CDFA carry out the registration organic producers and handlers.
The committee may wish to consider changing the registration
references from "department" to "Secretary." (Page 13, lines 4 and 7)
The committee may wish to consider a technical amendment to change the
request of inspection by any authorized state of local authority from
"72 hours" to "three business days". (Page 23, line 4)
RELATED LEGISLATION: SB 643 (McGuire), Chapter 719, Statutes of 2015,
established a comprehensive licensing and regulatory framework for the
cultivation, manufacture, transportation, storage, distribution, and
sale of medical cannabis; and, required CDFA, by January 1, 2020, make
available a certified organic designation and organic certification
program for medical marijuana, if permitted under federal law and the
NOP.
AB 2612 (Agriculture), Chapter 393, Statutes of 2010, among other
changes, authorized promulgation of regulations to streamline organic
registration; clarified the administration of SOP; authorized the
development of an online SOP registration system; and, made conforming
changes.
AB 2628 (Tom Berryhill), Chapter 395, Statues of 2010, allowed CAC to
file a certified copy of a final decision with the court that directs
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the payment of a civil penalty pursuant to violations of SOP, and, if
applicable, a copy of any order that denied a petition for a writ of
administrative mandamus; and, required the court to enter judgment
immediately upon that filing and at no cost.
SB 730 (Speier), Chapter 685, Statutes of 2005, prohibited any
aquaculture, fish, or seafood product (including farmed and wild
species) from being labeled or represented as "organic," until such
time that USDA's NOP, or CDFA implements formal certification
standards.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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California Certified Organic Farmers (Sponsor)
Archi's Acres
Bennett Farms, Inc.
Bolthouse Farms
California Center for Cooperative Development
California Climate & Agriculture Network
California Farmlink
California League of Conservation Voters
Capay Organics
Cornucopia Institute
Ecological Farming Association
Frey Vineyards
Full Belly Farm
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Harpos Organics
Heirloom Organic Gardens
Hunter Orchards
LaRocca Vineyards
Leavitt lake Ranches
Orange County Produce
Organic Consumers International
Organic Trade Association
Panorama Meats
Quarter Acre Farm
Rancho Rendezvous Farms, dba Fandango Olive Oil
Roots of Change
Samuelson Consulting
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Seven Bridges Cooperative Microbrewery, Inc.
Stoney Point-Pine Hill Orchards
Straus Family Creamery
The Farmers Guild
The Peterson Family
Traditional Medicinal
Vedder Company, L.P., dba Vedder Ranch
Wood Cattle Ranch Inc.
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084
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