BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 337
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 337 (Monning) - As Amended: March 25, 2011
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill exempts from the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)
both the state's voluntary sustainable seafood promotion program
and actions taken by the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to
implement the program.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable costs, if any.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author contends the requirements of the APA
need not apply to the program or its implementation for two
reasons. First, statute requires OPC to develop the program's
protocol through a transparent process and to adopt it in a
public meeting. Second, OPC may need to amend the protocol
methodology as often as twice a year, depending upon
development of international guidelines to which the protocol
must conform, a process that would be prohibitively burdened
by formal rulemaking.
2)Background.
a) AB 1217 (Monning, Chapter 279, Statutes of 2009)
requires OPC to establish a voluntary program to assist
California fisheries in becoming certified for sustainable
seafood based on internationally accepted standards adopted
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations. The program is to include development of a
protocol, adopted through a public process, to guide
AB 337
Page 2
entities in becoming certified; a market assistance
program; and a competitive grant and loan program to assist
fishing entities in qualifying for certification. The
program also is to include development of a label to
identify and market seafood caught in California that is
sustainably certified to internationally accepted
standards.
b) The APA establishes rulemaking procedures and standards
for state agencies designed to provide the public with a
meaningful opportunity to participate in the adoption of
state regulations and to ensure that regulations are clear,
necessary and legally valid.
3)Support. The bill is supported by the California State
Coastal Conservancy, which staffs the OPC, as well as several
marine conservation groups that support the work of the
program and development of its protocol.
4)Opposition. The bill is opposed by the California Fisheries
and Seafood Institute, an organization of seafood suppliers
and processors, which wants to ensure OPC's development and
adoption of the program protocol is transparent and open to
public input.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081