BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1976 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 6, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1976 (Irwin) - As Introduced February 16, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy | Agriculture |Vote:| 9 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill changes the size and composition of the California Avocado Commission (CAC), and revises the information avocado producers provide to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). In summary, the bill: AB 1976 Page 2 1)Changes the number of avocado handlers on the Board from four to two and the number of alternate handler members on the Board from two to one. 2)Changes the number of Board members required for a quorum or to recommend a suspension of the CAC. The number of Board members needed is reduced from eleven to nine if there are three districts, ten to nine if there are four districts, and eleven to ten if there are five districts. 3)Requires avocado handlers to include the grove location of each CAC producer instead of the district number in information sent to CDFA. 4)Requires that all requested information must now be sent to CDFA within 60 days of the receipt of a written request instead of 90 days. FISCAL EFFECT: Negligible fiscal impact. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose and Background: AB 1976 is intended to modernize the CAC so that it better reflects industry trends. The CAC was created in 1977 to benefit California and the avocado industry by addressing advertising, promotion, research, quality and maturity standards, crop statistics, and public education. Since the creation of CAC, the avocado industry has evolved, AB 1976 Page 3 and the number of avocado handlers has decreased. This has made it more difficult for the CAC Board to find four handlers to serve on a regular basis. On October 15, 2015, the CAC Board 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 would codify this motion by the Board. Analysis Prepared by:Luke Reidenbach / APPR. / (916) 319-2081