BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 65
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Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 65
(Wolk) - As Amended March 9, 2015
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|Policy |Agriculture |Vote:|9 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill replaces American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) with
specific California regions for olive oil labelled as having
been sourced from a specific area; increases, from 75% to 85%,
the content of the olive oil that must be sourced from that
specific California region in order to be so labelled; and
requires at least 95% of the content of the olive oil be sourced
from a specific estate in order to use the term "estate" on the
label.
FISCAL EFFECT:
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Minor and absorbable costs to the Department of Public Health.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, a 2012 study from the
University of California Davis Olive Center reaffirmed the
existence of fraud, mislabeling, and adulteration of extra
virgin olive oil imported and sold in California. The author
claims consumers are misled by deceiving and fraudulent
labels, and as a result may pay premium prices for
lower-quality olive oil.
2)New Content Standard. California adopted the current 75%
content standard for olive oil using a specific AVA label in
1998. The recently-formed Olive Oil Commission of California
(OOCC) adopted new grade and labeling standards in 2014 that
affect olive oil producers of 5,000 gallons annually or more,
including the 85% regional content standard. The most recent
OOCC report indicated there were 10 producers in the state
that bottled above that threshold, accounting for 98% of all
olive oil bottled in California. This bill requires non-OOCC
olive oil producers to meet limited labeling requirements
consistent with the OOCC standards, providing some uniformity
to olive oil labels.
3)California Oleicultural Areas. The 85% content standard
mirrors that which is commonly required for wine labelled with
a specific AVA. Although this bill does not define the
"specific regions" of California, or establish criteria for
determining a specific region, this bill's approach is likely
still superior to using AVAs, which may lead to consumer
confusion over implied premium quality and give AVA-sourced
olive oil a competitive advantage over non-AVA sourced olive
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oil that is otherwise of comparable or superior quality. The
committee may wish to consider whether establishing criteria
or a process for establishing labelling regions would further
improve labelling transparency.
Analysis Prepared by:Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916)
319-2081