BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1142
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 1142 (Wiggins) - As Amended:  August 2, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Natural  
          ResourcesVote:7-0
                       Agriculture                            8-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows the Director of the Department of Conservation  
          (DOC) to provide grants, from sources other than the currently  
          established California Farmland Conservancy Program (CFCP) Fund,  
          to acquire agricultural conservation easements.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Potentially substantial cost pressures, in the millions of  
          dollars annually, primarily to proceeds of bonds proceeds and to  
          any future funding made available for the uses described in this  
          bill.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author contends more money needs to be made  
            available to the DOC to acquire agricultural conservation  
            easements designed to preserve and protect these relatively  
            open spaces from residential or commercial development. 

           2)CFCP  .  This program provides grants to local agencies and  
            nonprofits to voluntarily acquire conservation easements on  
            agricultural lands in danger of being developed, to  
            temporarily purchase lands under these pressures, restore and  
            improve agricultural land already under easement, and to  
            develop agricultural land conservation policy and planning  
            projects.  These actions, taken together, are intended to  
            better ensure that these lands will continue to be used for  
            agricultural or open-space purposes and will permanently be  
            protected from residential or commercial development.








                                                                  SB 1142
                                                                  Page  2


           3)Loss of California Agricultural Lands  .  As California's  
            population climbs past 38 million, lands traditionally used  
            for agricultural purposes continue to be converted to  
            residential and commercial uses.  As cities surrounded by  
            agricultural lands continue to expand geographically, millions  
            of acres of farmland and rangeland are in danger of being lost  
            to new residential subdivisions and commercial complexes.  For  
            instance, from 2000 to 2002 alone, the DOC estimates over  
            397,000 acres of farmland was converted to other uses.  The  
            CFCP, in conjunction with efforts such as property tax  
            incentives and various preservation-related programs, is  
            designed to remove large areas of agricultural land from  
            potential residential or commercial development, thus  
            preserving land as both open-space and as part of the state's  
            overall agricultural production base.

           4)Related Legislation  .  AB 929 (Blakeslee, 2009), which was  
            identical to this bill, passed the Assembly 78-0 but was held  
            by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081