BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
Senator Anthony Cannella, Chairman
BILL NO: AB 292 HEARING: 07/05/11
AUTHOR: Galgiani FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 05/27/11 CONSULTANT: John Chandler
High-speed rail: agricultural lands.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (authority) was
established by SB 1420 (Kopp), Chapter 796, Statutes of 1996,
for the purpose of directing the development and implementation
of high-speed train service in California. The law creates a
nine-member governing with board five appointed by the Governor,
two appointed by Senate Rules Committee, and two appointed by
the Speaker of the Assembly to provide policy direction to the
authority staff.
AB 3034 (Galgiani), Chapter 267, Statutes of 2008, authorized
the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the
21st Century (Proposition 1A). The bill authorized $9.95
billion in general obligation bonds to support the authority in
developing a high-speed rail system extending from San Diego to
Sacramento. Phase I would connect Anaheim, Los Angeles Union
Station, Bakersfield, Fresno, San Jose, and the San Francisco
Transbay Terminal. Proposition 1A was passed by the people in
2008.
The federal government has awarded approximately $3.9 billion in
additional funds to support California high-speed rail. The
federal funding is contingent upon the project beginning in the
Central Valley, which prompted the authority to begin
construction on an approximately 120 mile segment that extends
from Bakersfield to north of Fresno. Despite a May 2011
recommendation by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office that
the authority reconsider where to begin high-speed rail to
optimize potential statewide benefits, the U.S. Department of
Transportation has maintained the federal funding requirement to
start high-speed rail in the Central Valley. The authority
plans to make right-of-way purchases and begin construction on
the Central Valley segment in 2012.
The impacted agricultural community has raised many concerns
regarding the impact of a new high-speed rail alignment through
agricultural property. These concerns include:
Potential reduction in planted acreage available for
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farming.
Splitting a parcel with the right-of-way, which would
render some parcels unfarmable reducing both the
profitability of the parcel and the parcel land value.
Splitting water supply access to farms with the
right-of-way. Some new wells would have to be developed.
New canals and other conveyance systems would have to be
established.
Increasing costs of operation due to the longer
distances needed to travel around the right-of-way.
Loss of agriculture jobs and related agribusiness jobs
due to lost acreage.
PROPOSED LAW
AB 292 would do the following:
1. Require the High-Speed Rail Authority to appoint an
agricultural advisory committee to advise the authority on
the impact of their policies, plans, and procedures on the
agricultural community.
2. Specify that the agricultural advisory committee will be
made up of nine members appointed by the authority from a
list of nominees recommended by the Secretary of Food and
Agriculture, who are active in a farming enterprise or in
an agricultural or related trade organization and have
technical expertise in farm-related activities.
3. Require the authority to consult with the agricultural
advisory committee prior to adopting any policy relevant to
agriculture and reflect the comments of the committee in
any action item that is before the authority.
4. Require the authority to provide written responses to
the agricultural advisory committee comments and distribute
those responses to the authority board and agricultural
advisory committee.
5. Make legislative findings and declarations.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author, AB 292 is a response to the November
2, 2010, letter to the authority from various agricultural
groups regarding concerns of impact that the rail alignment
would have on agricultural lands. While the authority has
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stated that their goal is to preserve agricultural lands and
have a minimum impact, agricultural groups feel that the
authority is not following their stated goal have and been
unresponsive to agricultural concerns. By creating an
agricultural advisory committee and requiring the authority to
inform the authority board of the committee's concerns, AB 292
ensures that agriculture will be an element under
consideration in the planning of the high-speed rail system.
It is the intent of AB 292 to require the authority to develop
plans that consider and minimize the impact on agriculture
land.
2.AB 292 specifies that the agricultural advisory committee made
up of members active in a farming enterprise or in an
agricultural or related trade organization. California
agriculture is more than just farmers and agriculture trade
organizations. The committee may wish to consider if anyone
involved in any agricultural enterprise should be eligible to
be a member of the advisory committee.
3.During a March 17 joint oversight hearing of the Assembly
Select Committee on High-Speed Rail and the Assembly Committee
on Agriculture, the authority stated that they were going to
establish two agricultural advisory groups an agricultural
leadership group and an agricultural technical group. Since
the authority has already committed to establishing
agricultural advisory groups, AB 292 seems redundant and
unnecessary. If the authority has failed to follow through
with their commitment at the March 17 hearing, it would appear
there may be a larger administrative failure with the
authority not keeping commitments to the legislature or the
public. The committee may wish to consider if this bill is
necessary since the authority already has the ability and has
committed to establishing agricultural advisory groups.
PRIOR ACTIONS
Senate Transportation & Housing 6-1
Assembly Floor 70-4
Assembly Appropriations 12-5
Assembly Transportation 14-0
SUPPORT
California Farm Bureau Federation
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OPPOSITION
None received