BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1976
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Date of Hearing: March 30, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Bill Dodd, Chair
AB 1976
(Irwin) - As Introduced February 16, 2016
SUBJECT: California Avocado Commission.
SUMMARY: Makes changes to the California Avocado Commission
(CAC) related to the number of board members and the time frame
for sending CAC district's members information to the California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Specifically, this
bill:
1)Changes from four to two the number of avocado handlers
(handlers) as members of the CAC Board (Board).
2)Changes from two to one the number of alternative handlers for
the Board.
3)Deletes provision to having alternative handler members being
assigned to serve as the alternate to specific handler
members.
AB 1976
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4)Lowers from 11 to nine member of the Board if there are three
or four CAC districts.
5)Changes information required for a list of CAC producers by
deleting district numbers and adding avocado grove locations.
6)Changes the time from 90 days to 60 days when the list of CAC
producers needs to be sent to CDFA, upon a written request
from CDFA.
7)Makes conforming changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes CAC, composed of 10 producers and four handlers
elected by the industry, and one public member appointed by
CDFA.
2)Divides California into five districts representing
approximately 20% of the avocado production.
3)Provides for CAC membership, voting procedures, duties and
powers, assessment rates, recordkeeping, quality standards,
penalties, and referendum procedures including continuance and
termination.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
AB 1976
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COMMENTS: CAC was created in 1977 to benefit California and the
industry by addressing advertising, promotion, research, quality
and maturity standards, crop statistics, and public education.
The California avocado industry has evolved over time since CAC
was created. With recent changes in CAC law that reconfigured
CAC, the votes of the four handlers could account for a larger
percentage of the total the Board votes. Furthermore, the
number of handlers in the industry has declined and it has
become harder to find four handlers to serve on a regular basis.
On October 15, 2015, the Board took action to modernize the law
governing its organization to reflect these realities. The
Board unanimously passed a motion to reduce the number of
handler seats to two and alternate handler seats to one to
maintain a proportional ratio of producers and handlers.
AB 1976 codifies the motion that was passed by the Board in
2015. Specifically, AB 1976 will decrease the number of
handlers represented on CAC and change the number of members
needed for a quorum to reflect the new amount of members.
Marketing Advisory and Promotional Councils (councils) and
Commissions (commissions) are created through commodity specific
legislation. California has over 20 commissions and three
councils under the purview of CDFA. Commissions commonly have a
greater scope of authority and more independence from CDFA than
councils. Councils, for example, are advisory to CDFA and all
actions of the councils are subject to CDFA approval.
Commissions generally are not advisory to CDFA. With a few
exceptions, CDFA must concur with a commission's budget and
annual activities statement. CDFA has cease and desist
authority over actions of commissions that CDFA deems not in the
public interest.
RELATED LEGISLATION:
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AB 958 (Committee on Agriculture), Statutes of 2015, Chapter
307, changed the membership and district reapportionment of CAC.
AB 914 (Akins), Statutes of 2011, Chapter 322, authorized CAC to
use information provided to CAC for specified purposes,
including food safety and communications. This bill also
revised the provision requiring CAC to reapportion CAC's
districts every five years by determining the average number of
pounds of fruit produced in each ZIP Code area in the five,
rather than two, crop years prior to a specified referendum.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Avocado Commission
Opposition
None on file.
AB 1976
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Analysis Prepared by:Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084