BILL NUMBER: AB 1242 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wiggins
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, Florez, Maldonado, Matthews,
and Wyman)
FEBRUARY 23, 2001
An act to add Article 11 (commencing with Section 600.5)
to Chapter 3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Food and Agricultural
Code, relating to farming An act relating to health
facilities , and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1242, as amended, Wiggins. Farming:
intergenerational farm transfers California Specialty
Hospital .
Existing law regulates the licensure of health facilities,
including hospitals, by the State Department of Health Services.
Existing law separately imposes various requirements with regard to
design and construction seismic safety standards for hospital
buildings under the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development has various responsibilities in this regard.
This bill would appropriate $4,000,000 from the General Fund to
the department for allocation to the California Specialty Hospital in
Vallejo for the purpose of correcting structural deficiencies
identified by the State Fire Marshal that affect patient and staff
safety. This bill would set forth facts and declare that it serves a
public purpose and constitutes necessary special legislation.
Existing law requires that the Legislature review the impact of
actions taken on specified factors relating to agriculture, including
family owned farms.
This bill would make findings and declarations on the importance
to the state of encouraging a new generation to enter farming. This
bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to take
primary responsibility for facilitating intergenerational family farm
transfers. This bill would also permit the Department of Food and
Agriculture to contract with nonprofit organizations to promote this
goal, as specified.
This bill would appropriate $250,000 from the General Fund to the
Department of Food and Agriculture, for the purposes of these
provisions, to be spent as specified.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
SECTION 1. The sum of four million dollars ($4,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the State Department of Health
Services for allocation to the California Specialty Hospital in
Vallejo for the purpose of correcting structural deficiencies
identified by the State Fire Marshal that affect patient and staff
safety.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that this act serves a
public purpose, and that a special law is necessary and a general law
cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of
Article IV of the California Constitution because of all of the
following:
(a) The California Specialty Hospital in Vallejo is a
not-for-profit hospital that provides crisis intervention and
critical inpatient mental health services to children in northern
California but may have to discontinue those critical services
without financial assistance for purposes of a one-time need to
correct structural deficiencies identified by the State Fire Marshal
that pose a threat to patient and staff safety.
(b) Recent closures of psychiatric hospitals have created an
alarming scarcity of mental health services for children and
adolescents in northern California.
(c) The people of northern California would face uniquely severe
health care consequences in the absence of the relief provided by
this act.
(a) The economic future of California's agriculture depends on the
ability of a new generation to enter farming. The 1997 Census of
Agriculture reported that 22,179, or approximately 30 percent of
California's farmers, were over 65 years of age. This percentage has
increased steadily for over a decade. California's farmers age 65
and over outnumber farmers under age 25 by approximately 60 to one.
The census also reported that 65,000 owner operated farms can be
found in California; this number decreased approximately 11 percent
from 1987 to 1997. During this same period, there was a 51 percent
drop in the number of farm operators under 35 years of age.
(b) Because farming is the cornerstone of agricultural communities
throughout California, the state should act to promote the future of
family farming, ensure that crucial knowledge of farming is passed
on to the next generation of farmers, and preserve California
farmland.
(c) Beginning farmers face challenges which include:
(1) Identifying viable farm entry opportunities.
(2) Lack of access to technical assistance and information about
available loan programs.
(3) Learning about financing techniques.
(4) Learning about business planning for appropriate
capitalization.
(d) Retiring farmers interested in transferring a family farm face
challenges which include:
(1) Finding a qualified aspiring farmer interested in taking over
the farm business.
(2) Lack of information about techniques and tools for effective
management of tax burdens due to capital gains estate taxes which may
include using conservation easements and other long-term farmland
protection tools.
(e) Because these issues affect states throughout the nation and
laws have been enacted in at least six other states to facilitate
family farm transfers, the Department of Food and Agriculture should
act on the issue of intergenerational family farm transfers.
SEC. 2. Article 11 (commencing with Section 600.5) is added to
Chapter 3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Food and Agricultural Code,
to read:
Article 11. The Farm Futures Act of 2001
600.5. The Department of Food and Agriculture shall take primary
responsibility for:
(a) Researching trends in farm transfers.
(b) Developing training materials to promote intergenerational
farm transfers.
(c) Supporting efforts of organizations providing training
designed to facilitate intergenerational farm transfers.
(d) Researching factors for success and barriers to transfer.
600.6. The Department of Food and Agriculture shall contract with
one or more appropriate nonprofit organizations with capacity and
experience in promoting intergenerational farm transfers throughout
California through strategies which include, but are not limited to:
(a) Outreach to the agricultural community through seminars,
workshops, and grassroots meetings.
(b) Technical assistance provided in a one-on-one format
addressing business planning, family lands mediation, estate
planning, and other farm succession planning.
(c) Sponsoring mentorship program activities.
(d) Promoting innovative techniques to facilitate farm transfers,
which may combine estate planning strategies with land conservation
strategies and similar techniques.
(e) Maintaining a data base of names of retiring and aspiring
farmers and facilitating preliminary meetings between the parties.
(f) Serving as a clearinghouse of professional services, business
planners, financial planners, succession planners, real estate
agents, and others experienced with or committed to facilitating
family farm transfers.
SEC. 3. The sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)
is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of
Food and Agriculture to implement the provisions of this article. Of
this sum, one full-time equivalent (up to fifty thousand dollars
($50,000)), may be spent on Department of Food and Agriculture
personnel ; the remainder shall be allocated through contracts to
qualified nonprofit organizations.