BILL ANALYSIS
Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
------------------------------------------------------------
| |1242(Wiggins) |
|-------------------------------+----------------------------|
| | |
|-------------------------------+----------------------------|
|Hearing Date: 8/20/01 |Amended: 5/31/01 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------------|
|Consultant: Lisa Matocq |Policy Vote: A & W |
| |9-0 |
| | |
------------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________________
___
BILL SUMMARY:
AB 1242 appropriates $250,000 from the General Fund to the
Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) for the purpose of
facilitating intergenerational family farm transfers, as
specified.
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2001-02 2002-03
2003-04 Fund
DFA - farm transfers $250* $250 $
250 General
*Appropriated in the bill.
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral
to the Suspense File.
The bill:
requires the DFA to research trends in farm transfers,
develop training materials to promote intergenerational
farm transfers, and support efforts of organizations
providing training designed to facilitate
intergenerational farm transfers,
requires DFA to contract with one or more nonprofit
organizations with experience in promoting farm transfers
through strategies such as sponsoring mentorship
programs, maintaining a database of names of retiring
farmers, and performing outreach to the agricultural
community,
specifies that of the $250,000 appropriated, one
full-time equivalent (up to $50,000) may be spent on DFA
personnel, and the remainder shall be used for the
contract.
According to the author's staff, this is intended to be an
ongoing program. A prior version of the bill appropriated
$1 million for allocation over a five-year period.
California Farmlinks, a nonprofit organization, promotes
farm transfers by helping to connect prospective farmers
with retiring farmers.
STAFF NOTES that there is no reporting requirement.