BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1826
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1826 (Mark Stone)
As Amended June 30, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 |(May 31, 2016) |SENATE: | 39-0 |(August 17, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: AGRI.
SUMMARY: Overhauls the State Organic Program (SOP), by changing
the SOP fee structure; grants a larger administrative role to
accredited certifying agencies; revises the composition of the
California Organic Products Advisory Committee; and, revises
required information provided for registration and
recordkeeping.
The Senate amendments reword and add to legislative findings;
permit the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)
to determine a reasonable time exceeding three business days for
responding to a request of records; and, made technical
non-substantive changes.
EXISTING LAW: SOP is statutorily mandated to enforce the
federal Organic Food Production Act of 1990 and the National
Organic Program (NOP) regulations. Every person engaged in
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California in the production or handling of raw agricultural
products sold as organic, must register with the county
agricultural commissioner (CAC) in the county of principal
operation prior to the first sale of the product. In addition,
every person engaged within California in the processing or
handling of processed organic products is required to register
with the Department of Public Health (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, NOP, and CAC's SOP's activities, including program
administration; county biologist training; spot inspections;
residue testing and sampling; complaint investigations;
registrations; 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: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, to implement the requirements of this measure, CDFA
estimates a one-time cost of $107,000 for reprogramming the
SOP's online registration system and database which can be
absorbed within SOP's Department of Food and Agriculture Fund
(Fund) reserve. Specifically, CDFA would have to restructure
the application process, data collection and assignments, and
the fee schedule.
In addition, CDFA anticipates a reduction in annual revenue of
approximately $164,000 to the Fund, resulting from the reduction
and consolidation of fee categories and the removal of
registration requirements for specified operations.
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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 California
organic producers, processors and handlers at a competitive
disadvantage. This bill will help limit those duplications and
ensure California remains a top producer of organic products,
while maintaining the integrity of the California organics
market.
California created the first Organic Food Act in 1979. In 1990,
SOP was created under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990,
which authorized the United States Department of Agriculture
(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.
For more details please see the policy and fiscal committee
analyses.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084 FN: 0004038
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