BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Senator Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1894 Hearing Date: 6/21/16
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|Author: |Committee on Agriculture |
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|Version: |5/18/16 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Anne Megaro |
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Subject: Food and agriculture: omnibus bill
SUMMARY :
This bill would update frozen dairy dessert food safety
requirements to incorporate new technologies; clarify the
authority of the California Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA) Dairy Marketing Branch to fund educational and research
activities; align citrus handler assessment fee due dates;
delete term limits for members of the California Sheep
Commission; and clarify Williamson Act contracted land
cancellation values and fees.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING
LAW :
Dairy.
CDFA's Dairy Marketing Branch is required to develop and
maintain satisfactory milk marketing conditions, bring about and
maintain a reasonable amount of stability and prosperity in the
production of market milk, and provide means for carrying on
essential educational activities. The authority to achieve
these goals is liberally construed.
California law requires that all milk and milk products be
pasteurized, processed, and packaged at a single site unless
otherwise exempted by law or by regulations as determined by the
secretary of CDFA (Food and Agriculture Code § 34008). The few
exceptions include licensed milk products plants that are used
exclusively for the production of ice cream or ice milk
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 2 of ?
manufactured from a mix or premix that is supplied by a separate
licensed milk products plant, and soft-serve products such as
frozen yogurt.
Citrus.
The California Citrus Advisory Committee was created within CDFA
to develop and make recommendations to the secretary on all
matters regarding the citrus program including the assessment
rate and inspection program. The assessment rate is currently
levied on producers per 40 pound carton of fruit and set at a
maximum $0.011 for navel oranges, $0.005 for lemons, and $0.006
for Valencia oranges and mandarins. The assessment is collected
by handlers and remitted to CDFA by the 10th day of the month.
These funds are used for crop surveys and to reimburse county
agricultural commissioners, in specified counties, for
implementing the inspection program, which ensures citrus
product quality.
The California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee
(CCPDPC) within CDFA was created to advise the secretary on
efforts to prevent and manage citrus pests and diseases. An
assessment is levied on citrus producers and deposited into the
Citrus Disease Management Account for the sole purpose of
combating citrus-specific pests and diseases. The current
assessment rate is $0.09 per 40 pound carton and is due to CDFA
by the end of the month.
Sheep.
The California Sheep Commission (CSC) was created in 1985 to
address sheep and sheep product advertising, promotion,
marketing research, production research, and sheep protection.
The CSC may adopt and modify rules and regulations, provide CSC
administration and enforcement, enter into contracts, collect
industry information, establish an assessment rate, expend
funds, and investigate and prosecute civil violations of CSC
law. The CSC must also undergo a mandatory referendum hearing
conducted by CDFA every five years to determine whether or not
the commission shall continue operating. The last referendum
vote was successfully conducted in 2014, extending the
continuation of the CSC through March 31, 2020.
Williamson Act.
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965, also known as the
Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to enter into
10-year contracts with agricultural landowners to keep
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 3 of ?
contracted land in agricultural production. The contracted land
is valuated accordingly for property tax purposes, thus
providing tax relief to property owners in exchange for not
developing the property for non-agricultural purposes.
Existing law:
1) Prohibits the manufacturing and packaging of hard frozen
dairy products when the establishment is open to the
public.
2) Requires manufacturers to post an ingredient list for
frozen yogurt on the premises if they sell directly to the
public.
3) Requires ice cream mix, frozen dairy dessert mix, and
frozen dessert mix to comply with all the requirements for
ice cream, frozen dairy desserts, and frozen desserts,
respectively.
4) Authorizes CDFA to develop and maintain satisfactory
marketing conditions, bring about and maintain a reasonable
amount of stability and prosperity in the production of
market milk, and provide means for carrying on essential
educational activities.
5) Requires the payment of specified citrus assessment fees
by the 10th day of the month following the month for which
the assessment is payable.
6) Limits the number of terms held by members of the
California Sheep Commission to four consecutive terms.
7) Requires the Department of Conservation to provide a
preliminary valuation of Williamson Act contracted land to
the county and city 60 days before the effective date of
the agreed upon cancellation valuation if the contract
includes an additional cancellation fee.
PROPOSED
LAW :
This bill:
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 4 of ?
1) Allows the manufacturing and packaging of hard frozen
dairy products when the establishment is open to the
public.
2) Removes the requirement that manufacturers post an
ingredient list for frozen yogurt on the premises if they
sell directly to the public.
3) Requires frozen yogurt mix to comply with all state and
federal requirements for frozen yogurt.
4) Aligns citrus handler assessment fee due dates to that
of other commodity assessment fee due dates.
5) Defines "educational and research activities" within
milk marketing code to mean any effort to develop and
improve the management practices of dairy producers and
processors, including environmental sustainability of land,
air quality, and water quality.
6) Clarifies the authority of CDFA's Dairy Marketing Branch
to fund educational and research activities.
7) Clarifies the authority of CDFA to use milk handler
assessment fees to administer and enforce milk marketing
and stabilization laws.
8) Removes term limits for members on the California Sheep
Commission.
9) Clarifies that the Department of Conservation shall
provide a preliminary valuation of Williamson Act
contracted land to the county and city if the contract
includes an additional cancellation fee only if the
department and landowner first agree upon a cancellation
value.
10) Makes technical and conforming corrections.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
According to the author, the amendments regarding frozen dairy
desserts "is an appropriate change due in the past 24 years, the
improvements in machinery used, food worker training and
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 5 of ?
adoption of GMPs by most restaurants and fast food chains, and
the network of local public health inspection and oversight all
help provide the needed safeguards for the making and selling of
these products."
According to CDFA, the broad interpretation of milk marketing
laws authorizes CDFA to fund environmental research projects,
such as projects helping "regulators better understand the
impacts of dairy on air and water quality issues. Continuing to
provide sound scientific data to regulators helps them focus
their enforcement activities in a manner that protects the
health of our citizens, while providing them with an ample
supply of dairy products. The ambiguous nature of current
statute does, however, bring into question the continued pursuit
of these research projects. [?] This bill would clarify the
Department's existing authority to fund these important
environmental research projects using existing funds."
COMMENTS :
Frozen dairy desserts. This bill would maintain current food
safety standards while incorporating new frozen dessert
technologies. Additionally, CDFA states that some of these
requirements are burdensome, unnecessary, and inconsistent with
the dairy industry's business model.
Dairy research. As environmental awareness grew in the 1990s,
environmental regulation of dairy farms followed. Concerns
regarding manure and dairy waste, water quality, land use, air
quality, and impacts of dairy processing plants needed to be
better understood. The dairy industry realized that regulations
would be extremely costly and that additional research, data,
and scientific evidence were needed. Regulators would then be
able to use this new information to identify what regulations
would be most effective and beneficial to the environment and
the industry. These research projects continue to be funded
today, although there is no expressed authority for CDFA to use
industry funds to support these activities. However, given
CDFA's statutory mandate to bring stability and prosperity to
the production of market milk and provide for essential
educational activities, this authority can be liberally
construed to include environmental research activities. This
bill clarifies the existing authority.
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 6 of ?
Citrus. This bill would align the due date for assessment fees
collected from citrus producers and remitted to CDFA by citrus
handlers to that of other commodity assessment fees. Currently,
an assessment fee levied for an inspection program is due by the
10th day of the month. According to CDFA, a thorough review of
existing law identifies that citrus industry assessments are
payable on the tenth day of the following month from which the
citrus was received, giving the citrus industry only 10 days to
remit payment to the department. However, other programs, such
as the Standardization Program, are afforded 40 days.
Therefore, it would be unfair and without substantiation to
establish different payment standards for one program over
another. This bill would clarify the due date for a citrus
assessment and set it for the end of the month.
Sheep. The California sheep industry had an $82 million
agricultural commodity value in 2014. The total number of sheep
and lambs has remained relatively steady since 2005; however,
the industry has declined since the CSC was first created in
1985. As such, the decreasing size makes it more difficult for
the CSC to fill vacant board seats created by current term
limits. Nonetheless, the industry is supportive of the CSC and
has asked that it continue in operation until at least 2020.
This bill would delete term limits for CSC members.
Williamson Act. AB 707 (Wood) of 2015 requires the Department
of Conservation to provide a preliminary valuation of Williamson
Act contracted land to the county and city 60 days before the
effective date of the agreed upon cancellation valuation if the
contract includes an additional cancellation fee. This bill
would clarify that this would occur only if the department and
landowner first agree upon a cancellation value.
RELATED
LEGISLATION :
AB 707 (Wood), Chapter 631, Statutes of 2015. Requires the
Department of Conservation to provide a preliminary valuation of
Williamson Act contracted land to the county and city 60 days
before the effective date of the agreed upon cancellation
valuation if the contract includes an additional cancellation
fee.
AB 1894 (Committee on Agriculture) Page 7 of ?
PRIOR
ACTIONS :
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|Assembly Floor: |79 - 0 |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |20 - 0 |
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|Assembly Agriculture Committee: | 9 - 0 |
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SUPPORT :
California Department of Food and Agriculture
OPPOSITION :
None received
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