BILL NUMBER: AB 1228 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 890 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 9, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 14, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Committee on Agriculture (Cardoza (Chair), Maldonado (Vice Chair), Brewer, Florez, Reyes, Thomson, and Wiggins) FEBRUARY 26, 1999 An act to amend Section 2282 of, to amend, repeal, and add Section 224 to, to add Section 2287 to, and to add and repeal Sections 2282 and 2282.5 of, the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agriculture, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1228, Committee on Agriculture. Agriculture: plant and animal pest control. (1) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture or the Director of Pesticide Regulation to allocate annually to each county an amount determined by the secretary or the director not to exceed 1/3 of the amount expended by the county during the previous fiscal year for the programs of joint responsibility under the jurisdiction of the secretary or director, as applicable. Existing law also requires money transferred by the Controller to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account to be expended by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, as specified. This bill, until July 1, 2001, would amend this latter provision to specify that, for reimbursement purposes, first priority shall be given to partially reimburse counties for the cost of carrying out those programs reported pursuant to paragraph (1) above, and second priority shall be for up to full reimbursement within the same fiscal period plus 60 days for expenditures incurred by the county in accordance with a budget approved by the department for programs dealing with high-risk pest exclusions and noxious weeds. (2) Until July 1, 1999, the Department of Food and Agriculture was responsible under provisions of law to develop work plans for allocation of funding appropriated to the department in the Budget Act of 1998 for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention. This bill, until July 1, 2000, would assign to the department the responsibility of developing work plans for allocation of the funding appropriated in the Budget Act to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention. The bill would make related changes. The bill also would specify that, of the amount appropriated in the Budget Act to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention, $5,500,000 shall be utilized solely for high-risk pest exclusion activities. (3) Until July 1, 1999, a county agricultural commissioner was authorized under provisions of law to enter into a mutual aid agreement with other counties, as prescribed, to carry out prescribed crop, inspection, and pest management programs. This bill would reenact these provisions without a repeal date, thereby continuing them indefinitely. (4) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 224 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended to read: 224. Money transferred by the Controller to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account pursuant to Section 8352.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code shall be expended by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture as follows: (a) Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of the amount transferred each fiscal year is hereby appropriated for reimbursement for charges for state administrative costs, and for departmental and divisional overhead expense apportioned to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund. (b) One million dollars ($1,000,000) each fiscal year is hereby appropriated to be used only for emergency detection, eradication, or research of agricultural plant or animal pests or diseases, during the fiscal year. The Secretary of Food and Agriculture may expend the funds with the approval of the Director of Finance. At the end of each fiscal year, any unencumbered balance of those funds shall be added to the amount available for payment to counties during the next fiscal year, as provided in subdivision (c). (c) The total amount transferred during each fiscal year less the amounts provided in subdivisions (a) and (b), is hereby appropriated to be paid to the counties as follows: (1) First priority shall be partial reimbursement of any county's prior year net general fund county cost for carrying out agricultural programs authorized by this code that are supervised by the department. (2) Second priority shall be up to full reimbursement within the same fiscal period plus 60 days for expenditures incurred by the county in accordance with a budget approved by the department for programs dealing with high-risk pest exclusion and noxious weeds. (3) Reimbursements shall not exceed the total amount transferred by the Controller to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account pursuant to Section 8352.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, and shall be apportioned to the counties by the secretary in relation to each county's expenditures to the total amount expended by all counties for the preceding fiscal year for such agricultural programs, as determined by the secretary. The amount to be transferred to any county for a fiscal year may be increased or decreased by the secretary to provide that, insofar as those transferred unclaimed refundable gas tax funds for apportionment to the counties are available, no county shall receive smaller combined apportionments of gas taxes and unclaimed refundable gas taxes than that county would have received had the gas taxes been apportioned without the transfer required by Section 8352.5, as determined by the secretary, except that the amount of unclaimed refundable gas tax funds to be transferred to any county for a fiscal year may be increased or decreased by the secretary to compensate for incorrect previous transfers to that county. (d) This section shall remain in effect only until July 1, 2001, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before July 1, 2001, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 2. Section 224 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: 224. Money transferred by the Controller to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account pursuant to Section 8352.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code shall be expended by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture as follows: (a) Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of the amount transferred each fiscal year is hereby appropriated for reimbursement for charges for state administrative costs, and for departmental and divisional overhead expense apportioned to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund. (b) One million dollars ($1,000,000) each fiscal year is hereby appropriated to be used only for emergency detection, eradication, or research of agricultural plant or animal pests or diseases, during the fiscal year. The Secretary of Food and Agriculture may expend the funds with the approval of the Director of Finance. At the end of each fiscal year, any unencumbered balance of those funds shall be added to the amount available for payment to counties during the next fiscal year, as provided in subdivision (c). (c) The total amount transferred during each fiscal year less the amounts provided in subdivisions (a) and (b), is hereby appropriated to be paid to the counties as partial reimbursement for county expenses for carrying out agricultural programs authorized by this code that are supervised by the department. The payment shall be apportioned to the counties by the secretary in relation to each county's expenditures to the total amount expended by all counties for the preceding fiscal year for such agricultural programs, as determined by the secretary. The amount to be transferred to any county for a fiscal year may be increased or decreased by the secretary to provide that, insofar as those transferred unclaimed refundable gas tax funds for apportionment to the counties are available, no county shall receive smaller combined apportionments of gas taxes and unclaimed refundable gas taxes than that county would have received had the gas taxes been apportioned without the transfer required by Section 8352.5, as determined by the secretary, except that the amount of unclaimed refundable gas tax funds to be transferred to any county for a fiscal year may be increased or decreased by the secretary to compensate for incorrect previous transfers to that county. (d) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2001. SEC. 3. Section 2282 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: 2282. (a) Except as provided in Section 2282.5, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture or the Director of Pesticide Regulation may allocate annually to each county an amount determined by the secretary or the director not to exceed one-third of the amount expended by the county during the previous fiscal year for the programs of joint responsibility. The allocations apply to and shall be made from funds appropriated to the secretary or the director for purposes of carrying out activities of joint responsibility with the commissioners at the local levels. (b) The annual report to the Legislature described in Section 2281 shall include findings for each of the following joint programs, including the amounts allocated to, and expended by, the counties in the previous fiscal year and the proposed amount to be allocated by the secretary for each program for the ensuing budget year: (1) Pest detection. (2) Pest eradication. (3) Pest management control. (4) Pest exclusion. (5) Seed inspection. (6) Nursery inspection. (7) Fruit and vegetable quality control. (8) Egg quality control. (9) Apiary inspection. (10) Crop statistics. The report also shall specify the programs that have been augmented with state funds each year since 1980 because of new legislative mandates, or because of pest infestations or outbreaks occurring since that date, and the annual amounts of those augmentations. (c) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2000, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before July 1, 2000, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 4. Section 2282 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as amended by Section 5 of Chapter 870 of the Statutes of 1998, is amended to read: 2282. (a) The Secretary of Food and Agriculture or the Director of Pesticide Regulation may allocate annually to each county an amount determined by the secretary or the director not to exceed one-third of the amount expended by the county during the previous fiscal year for the programs of joint responsibility under the jurisdiction of the secretary or director, as applicable. The allocations shall be made from funds appropriated to the secretary or the director for purposes of carrying out activities of joint responsibility with the commissioners at the local levels. (b) The annual report to the Legislature required by Section 2281 shall include findings for each of the following joint programs, including the amounts allocated to, and expended by, the counties in the previous fiscal year and the proposed amount to be allocated by the secretary for each program for the ensuing budget year: (1) Pest detection. (2) Pest eradication. (3) Pest management control. (4) Pest exclusion. (5) Seed inspection. (6) Nursery inspection. (7) Fruit and vegetable quality control. (8) Egg quality control. (9) Apiary inspection. (10) Crop statistics. The report shall also specify the programs that have been augmented with state funds each year since 1980 because of new legislative mandates, or because of pest infestations or outbreaks occurring since that date, and the annual amounts of those augmentations. (c) This section shall become operative July 1, 2000. SEC. 5. Section 2282.5 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: 2282.5. (a) The development of work plans for allocation of the funding appropriated in the Budget Act to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention shall be the responsibility of the department. The department shall establish criteria for the development of the work plans and for allocating the appropriated funds. (b) Of the amount appropriated in the Budget Act to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention, five million five hundred thousand dollars ($5,500,000) shall be utilized solely for high-risk pest exclusion activities. The work plans for the exclusion of high-risk pests shall be developed by the department with the county agricultural commissioners and in consultation with affected industry representatives. In order to determine the effectiveness of high-risk pest exclusion programs in each county, the criteria established by the department for the work plan shall include, but need not be limited to, the following: (1) The number of high-risk plant shipments entering each county. (2) The number of high-risk entry points in each county. (3) The number of state action quarantine pests intercepted or detected annually in each county. (4) The work hours expended by each county in conducting exclusion of high-risk pests. (5) The rate of interceptions and rejections per inspection activity. (c) To remain eligible for funding under this section, a county shall maintain its support of ongoing operational costs of the county agricultural commissioner programs listed in subdivision (b) of Section 2282, at 1997-98 fiscal year levels. (d) Funds allocated for high-risk pest exclusion activities pursuant to subdivision (b) may not be expended for any purpose other than the exclusion or detection of high-risk pests consistent with the work plans prescribed in subdivision (a) or scientific evaluation. Funds allocated by each county on or after September 28, 1998, shall not be allocated to other programs listed in subdivision (b) of Section 2282 until the county work plan is approved by the department consistent with the funding appropriated in the Budget Act of 1999 to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease prevention for this purpose. (e) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2000, and as of January 1, 2001, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2001, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed. SEC. 6. Section 2287 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: 2287. Whenever the commissioner determines that it is necessary to more effectively or more efficiently carry out a program listed in subdivision (b) of Section 2282, the commissioner may enter into a mutual aid agreement with other counties for the purpose of sharing staff, equipment, expertise, information, and other resources necessary to meet the needs of the program. SEC. 7. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to make changes to certain provisions affecting agriculture prior to their repeal, thereby protecting public health and safety, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.