BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2324
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 30, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Bill Dodd, Chair
AB 2324
(Eggman) - As amended March 18, 2016
SUBJECT: Certified farmers' markets.
SUMMARY: Recasts definitions and adds vendor record keeping
requirements to the Certified Farmers' Market (CFM) Law;
requires records to be made available to specified enforcement
agencies; and, makes technical changes. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Adds "wool" to the definition of "agricultural product" and
adds that a non-agricultural product may be sold in a CFM if
the market operator ensures the following conditions are
satisfied:
a) The product is composed entirely of agricultural
products grown by the producer, except for incidental
ingredients and flavoring; and,
b) The product is being offered for sale by a producer who
is otherwise authorized to sell agricultural products at a
CFM.
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2)Requires the Secretary (Secretary) of the California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in adopting
regulations for CFMs, to endeavor to keep costs to farmers and
CFM operators to a minimum.
3)Rewords authority to adopt regulations for CFMs by referencing
item 2) above and that regulations promote and foster honest
selling activities.
4)Requires all CFM vendors to keep product identity, variety,
and quantity of sales records for all product sales to
consumers from each CFM the vendor attends and requires the
vendors to maintain these records for at least 12 months from
date of sale.
5)Requires vendors to keep product identity and relative
measured weight or volume records for all unprocessed
agricultural products delivered to a processing facility for
processing into a product intended for sale to the public,
including name and address of processor, the date delivered to
processor, the date processed product was delivered to vendor,
the character and type of processed agricultural product
produced and the relative measured weight or volume of
processed product produced. These records are to be
maintained for 12 months from the date vendor received product
from processor.
6)Requires, upon written request that identifies, specifically,
information requested by a county or state enforcement agency,
that these records be made available within three business
days or within a similar period of time that is reasonable at
the time of the request.
7)Requires a CFM operator, upon request by a state or county
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enforcement agency pursuant to an investigation of false or
misleading marketing by a vendor, to note and make a record of
the products that vendor offers for sale at each market, and
to make those records available within three days of a written
request by the agency. This requirement shall not preclude a
CFM operator from establishing other requirements for vendors
to sell at their CFMs.
8)Requires county agricultural commissioners to send a digital
copy of each certified producer's certificate issued and
requires CDFA to post each certificate on their internet site
in a timely manner.
9)Deletes the requirement for CDFA to maintain a statewide
listing of certified producers, replacing that list with a
required online, publically accessible database listing of
current certified producers' certificates.
10)Makes technical changes.
EXISTING LAW: Provides for the regulation of certified farmers'
markets and authorizes the Secretary to adopt regulations to
encourage the direct sale by farmers to the public of all types
of California agricultural products; requires vendors of
agricultural products selling within a certified farmers' market
to comply with specified requirements; makes it unlawful to
violate the provisions regulating certified farmers' markets,
and authorizes the Secretary or a county agricultural
commissioner, in lieu of prosecution, to levy a civil penalty
against a person who violates those provisions; and, requires a
producer to obtain a certified producer's certificate from a
county agricultural commissioner before selling at a certified
farmers' market and requires CDFA to maintain a current listing
of certified producers.
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Exempts farmers that market direct to consumers from standard
pack and size requirements; establishes requirements for CFMs
and producers to be certified; authorizes CDFA to adopt
regulations to permit the direct selling of certified
agricultural products to consumers; authorizes the collection of
up to two dollars ($2.00) per producer per market day to be used
for administration, inspection and enforcement; provides for the
appointment of a 17 member advisory committee; permits CFMs to
establish rules and procedures that are more restrictive than
the state rules; provides for civil penalties for violations of
rules; provides for an appeal and decision process by CDFA;
creates a crime by establishing a violation and provides
enforcement provisions that sunset January 1, 2018; and, allows
CDFA to appoint ad hoc advisory committees to assist in the
administration of programs under this authority.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS: According to the author, AB 2324 is completing the
efforts started by AB 1871 (Dickinson), of the 2013-14
legislative session. That bill rewrote definitions and expanded
the requirements, exemptions, and fees for CFM, their operators
and vendors, and adjacent non-agricultural markets, and
increased penalties for violations. This bill adds record
keeping for farmers of their sales and products, along with
record keeping requirements by CFM operators when an
investigation into false or misleading sales activities occurs.
It also makes other less significant changes.
Certified farmers' markets have become established in many
California communities, as have other outlets for direct
marketing, such as farm stands and community supported
agriculture. There are roughly 800 farmers' markets in
California, a significant number of which operate year-round.
Following the enactment of the Federal Farmer to Consumer Direct
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Marketing Act of 1976, CDFA enacted regulations that exempted
farmers from packing, sizing and labeling requirements for fresh
fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and enabled them to sell products
they grow at farmers' markets, provided they receive
certification from a county agriculture commissioner (CAC). The
certification process is to assure the consumer that the product
is grown by the seller. Further, farmers must have a sign that
they sell what they grow.
As CFMs have become more popular, the willingness of a few
producers to sell whatever they could became a concern to many
CFM operators. In 1999, they came to the Legislature and
enacted a daily per stall fee of sixty cents, intending it to be
used by CDFA and CAC for inspections and enforcement purposes.
Due to the growth of the program and reductions in General Fund
to CDFA and reductions to CAC's budgets, the fee has had to be
used to administer the program and not for inspection and
enforcement, as it was intended. AB 1871 raised this fee to
$2.00 per stall per day. This has significantly improved CDFA's
funding of this program and will allow for more inspections of
selling practices of CFM vendors.
Several years ago a Los Angeles television station did an
undercover story, exposing a certified producer who was not
producing what he was selling, causing much concern to the
publics' confidence in buying from CFMs. This prompted the
multi-year effort to update the statutes that govern CFMs; AB
2324 is another step in that effort.
RELATED LEGISLATION: AB 1252 (Health), Chapter 556, Statutes of
2014, made various technical, clarifying, and conforming changes
to the California Retail Food Code, the state's principal law
governing food safety and sanitation in retail food facilities,
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and made changes necessary to implement California's cottage
food operations law.
AB 2539 (Ting), Chapter 907, Statutes of 2014, made various
changes to the rules governing CFMs, including requiring all
meat products offered for sale in a farmers' market to be from
approved sources and to be maintained at 41 degrees Fahrenheit,
prohibiting smoking of nicotine products within 25 feet of the
commerce area of the farmers' market, and prohibiting the
self-serving of food samples.
AB 1871 (Dickinson), Chapter 579, Statutes of 2014, recast and
expanded the requirements, exemptions, and fees for Certified
Farmers' Markets (CFM), their operators and vendors, and
adjacent non-agricultural markets, and increases penalties for
violations. This bill deletes the January 1, 2018, sunset
provisions for this chapter, making its provisions permanent.
AB 224 (Gordon), Chapter 404, Statutes of 2013, created
definitions dealing with requirements for Consumer Supported
Agriculture (CSA); and, authorized CDFA to establish fees, not
to exceed $100, to administer this new program, as specified.
AB 654 (Hall), Chapter 409, Statutes of 2013, extended the
sunset date to January 1, 2018, for the collection of CFM
operator fees and enforcement provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
Agricultural Council of California
California Farm Bureau Federation
Certified Farmers' Markets of Sacramento
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Myrrhia Fine Knitwear
Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association
1 individual
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084