BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1625|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1625
Author: Allen (D), et al.
Amended: 6/18/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 7/3/12
AYES: Cannella, Rubio, Berryhill, Evans, Vargas, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: La Malfa
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/6/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-19, 5/3/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Transition to Organics Act
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill establishes the Transition to Organics
Act of 2012 for the purpose of providing financial
assistance to persons who transition their conventional
farms to certified organic farms.
ANALYSIS : Existing state law established the state
organic program in 1990 for the purpose of protecting the
consumers, producers, handlers, processors and retailers by
the establishment of standards under which fresh
agricultural products and foods may be labeled and sold as
"organic." It provides definitions, enforcement, program
CONTINUED
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procedures, an advisory board, inspections, penalties, a
certification process, fees, and regulations. Enforcement
activities are coordinated with the California Organic
Products Advisory Committee, the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) and the California County
Agricultural Commissioners. The scope of the Act was
expanded in 1992 to include seed fiber, and horticultural
products sold or labeled as organic. In 2002, it was
amended to conform to National Organic Program (NOP) and
renamed the California Organic Products Act of 2003 (COPA).
Existing federal law (1) requires the USDA to develop
national standards and regulations for organically produced
agricultural products to assure consumers that products
labeled as "organic" meet consistent, uniform standards and
originate from farms with organic certification, as
authorized by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990; (2)
provides for definitions, regulations, organic
certification process, compliance requirements, production
and handling practices, accreditation program for
certifying agents, violations, penalties, and
appropriations; and (3) establishes a National Organic
Standards Board and a National Organic Certification Cost
Share Program which provides reimbursement to farms up to
75% (maximum $750) of the organic certification cost.
This bill:
1. Establishes the Transition to Organics Fund (Fund), to
be administered by CDFA, which would consist of moneys
contributed from any industry, citizen, person, and
state agency sources. No moneys from the General Fund
will be used. The Fund shall be located within the
State Treasury or in a state depository bank approved by
the State Treasurer, and funds shall be available upon
appropriation by the Legislature.
2. Limits Fund spending to providing financial assistance
to persons who are transitioning their farms from
conventional to certified organic farming systems, as
well as administrative and operational expenses incurred
by CDFA.
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3. Provides definition for "conventional" to mean any farm,
or portion of a farm, that is not a certified organic
farm, and has submitted a pesticide use report for that
farm prior to January 1, 2013.
4. Reimburses 25% of the costs associated with obtaining
organic certification for a person transitioning from
conventional to organic farming. Reimbursement is
limited to the first year of certification and includes
inspection, application, and annual fees.
5. Restricts maximum payment to $250 for any farm. The
maximum total payments made to a person (individual,
group of individuals, corporation, association,
organization, cooperative, foundation or other entity)
shall not exceed $1,000 per year.
6. Restricts consideration to newly transitioned farms
obtaining organic certifications on or after January 1,
2013.
7. Restricts reimbursement to a first-come, first-served
basis, contingent upon sufficient funds available in the
Fund.
8. Requires the Secretary to receive and accept, on behalf
of the Fund, any monetary contributions to the Fund from
any person or agency of the state and deposit those
contributions in the Fund.
9. Authorizes the Secretary to adopt regulations, as
needed, to carry out this act.
10.Authorizes the Secretary to administer disbursement of
moneys from the Fund in coordination with the procedures
associated with the National Organic Certification Cost
Share Program.
11.Authorizes the Secretary to levy civil penalties on any
person who renders or furnishes false information in
their application seeking reimbursement moneys from the
Fund.
12.Requires the Secretary to keep records of contributions
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to and payments from the Fund. These records must be
publically available upon request and reported annually
to the California Organic Products Advisory Committee.
Comments
According to the Senate Agriculture Committee analysis,
persons wanting to transition from conventional to organic
farming face a number of financial challenges. The most
predominant is the three-year "wash-out" period where farms
must operate in organic fashion (i.e. sans conventional
fertilizers, pesticides, medicines) but are not allowed
organic certification or organic labeling, which typically
would recoup the higher cost of organic production. In
addition, once the farm is eligible to receive organic
certification, the farm must pay fees to obtain organic
certification. The author voices concern that these
financial challenges discourage many farmers from
converting to organic practices.
This bill reduces the cost (25%) of organic certification
for farms transitioning from conventional to organic
farming systems within their first year of certification,
if initial organic certification is granted on or after
January 1, 2013. A new program is established to carry out
this goal and is funded through voluntary donation of
moneys from industry and citizen sources, but may also
include contributions from other state agencies. No
General Funds shall be used.
Existing federal support . The National Organic
Certification Cost Share Program annually reimburses
organically certified operations for 75% of the costs of
organic certification, not to exceed $750. This program
does not differentiate between existing and newly converted
organic farms, and Cost Share applications are processed on
a first-come, first-served basis. According to a USDA
fiscal year 2011 report, CDFA received $1 million to
operate the Cost Share program. All applicants (1,475)
within California received reimbursements on an average of
$625 each.
Dovetailing . The proposed state legislation would dovetail
the current federal organic program and when combined would
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reimburse 100% (maximum $1,000) of the fees associated with
organic certification for conventional farms newly
certified as organic for the first year of operation. The
author of this bill is concerned that if federal moneys run
out, new organic farms will only be reimbursed for 25% of
their certification costs; however, the author recognizes
that this bill could be amended in future years to increase
the percentage of costs covered by the state program.
Funding . According to the author, this bill ensures that
any additional administrative costs incurred by CDFA will
be covered by moneys from this Fund, and in the event that
there are not enough moneys in the Fund to provide for
these additional costs, CDFA will simply not disburse any
moneys.
Prior Legislation
AB 1401 (Ma, 2009), nearly identical to this bill, would
have created the "Transition to Organics Fund" and the
"Transition to Organic Act," to assist farmers who are
transitioning from conventional farming practices to
certified organic practices, and provided specified
definitions and related authority to operate the program.
Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill stating, "While I
support the author's goal to assist individuals converting
to organic farming, I cannot support establishing an
assistance program and expanding the workload of the
California Department of Food and Agriculture when there is
no guarantee of a funding mechanism."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown,
likely minor costs annually to the Transition to Organics
Fund for CDFA to administer the Transition to Organics Act.
Estimated $25,000 annually to the Fund for 100
applications for assistance.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/8/12)
AFSCME, AFL-CIO
California State Grange
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Sierra Club California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the Transition To Organics Act accomplishes two worthy
goals: assisting California farmers in these difficult
economic times, and helping them to transition to the
organic farming practices that they wish to pursue. This
bill, as amended, specifies which farmers are eligible for
assistance from the fund, for which expenses, and the
maximum amount of assistance available, thereby making any
CDFA regulation promulgation unnecessary. This bill has
specificity, simplicity, very modest administrative needs
readily dovetailed with an existing CDFA program
characterized by very low administrative needs and costs,
provisions for the recovery of even these modest costs by
CDFA, and a very low budget profile for the fund itself,
all in the service of worthy public policy.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-19, 5/3/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro,
Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Conway, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Garrick,
Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Norby, Silva,
Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Charles Calderon, Cook,
Fletcher, Furutani, Gorell, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Smyth
MEL:m 8/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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