BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2324
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2324 (Eggman)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Agriculture |9-0 |Dodd, Mathis, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Gray, | |
| | |Irwin, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Quirk, | |
| | |Salas | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |19-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
AB 2324
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| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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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 "raw sheared wool" to the definition of "agricultural
product."
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
AB 2324
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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 a CFM operator, upon request by a state or county
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.
7)Makes technical changes.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, there is a one-time cost to CDFA in the range of
$250,000 to develop new regulations and enforcement procedures.
COMMENTS: According to the author, this bill is completing the
efforts started by AB 1871 (Dickinson), Chapter 579, Statutes of
2014. 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.
AB 2324
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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
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.
See Policy Committee Analysis for more detail.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084 FN: 0003145