BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1142 (Wiggins)
Hearing Date: 05/10/2010 Amended: As introduced
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: LG 4-1
SB 1142 (Wiggins), Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1142 authorizes the Department of Conservation
to award grants for the preservation of agricultural lands
through the purchase of conservation easements.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Implementation of grantMinor and absorbable Special
*
program
Cost pressure on bond funds Unknown Bond *
* Soil Conservation Fund.
* Various bonds, including Proposition 40 and Proposition 1E.
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STAFF COMMENTS:
Under current law, the Department of Conservation is authorized
to award grants for the preservation of agricultural lands,
primarily through the use of conservation easements.
Agricultural conservation easements allow agricultural uses of
the land to continue, but preclude development of the land for
other uses, such as residential, commercial, or industrial uses.
Easements are a property right and exist in perpetuity
(providing the entity that holds the easement does not
extinguish it).
In the past, the Department made grants totaling about $16
million from the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund,
which was supported by transfers from the General Fund and
various special funds. In recent years, the Department has
received direct appropriations of general obligation bond funds
to make grants for the purchase of fee title to lands or
agricultural conservation easements on agricultural lands. Bond
fund expenditures for these acquisitions have totaled about $46
million over the last decade.
This bill authorizes the Department to make grants for the
acquisition of conservation easements, providing that specified
SB 1142 (Wiggins), Page 2
criteria are met. For example, an easement cannot substantially
prevent agricultural uses of the property and restrictions on
future agricultural uses can only be placed on uncultivated
portions of the property.
The bill specifies that expenditures under the bill be funded
from sources other than the California Farmland Conservancy
Program Fund. (Staff notes that in recent years the existing
program has not been funded from the California Farmland
Conservancy Program Fund.)
The intent of the bill is to allow the Department to make grants
for conservation easements on properties that have both
agricultural uses and other benefits, such as floodways or
wetlands. The intent of this bill is to create a complementary
program, rather than replacement or modification of the existing
program.
The Department indicates that the cost to administer grants
under the program can be accommodated within existing resources,
because this program will operate in a similar manner and be
staffed by the same personnel that are administering the
existing grant program.
By authorizing a new use of state funds, this bill creates cost
pressures on state funds. For example, the Department indicates
that enactment of this bill would allow the Department, upon
appropriation of the Legislature, to use Proposition 1E funds
authorized for floodway protection to purchase easements.
Proposition 1E authorizes the expenditure of $290 million in
general obligation bond funds for flood protection corridors and
bypasses, of which about $150 million remains available for
appropriation. The purchase of conservation easements is one of
the eligible uses of those funds. To the extent that Proposition
1E funds are appropriated and expended pursuant to this bill, it
may reduce the availability of funds for other authorized uses.
The extent of this cost pressure is unknown.