BILL NUMBER: SCR 71	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 15, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Cannella
   (Coauthors: Senators Berryhill, La Malfa, Rubio, and Wolk)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bill Berryhill,  Ma,  Olsen,
Perea, Valadao, and Yamada)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   Relative to the University of California.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 71, as amended, Cannella. The University of California
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
   This measure would state the Legislature's support for the
programs and initiatives administered by the University of California
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and would request the
United States Department of Agriculture, the Regents of the
University of California, and the board of supervisors in each county
in the state to continue their support and funding of the division.

   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The University of California (UC) is a land-grant
institution founded in 1868 whose original mandate was, "without
excluding other scientific and classical studies and including
military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to
agriculture and the mechanic arts"; and
   WHEREAS, The University of California Division of Agriculture and
Natural Resources (UCDANR) is a network of researchers and educators
dedicated to the creation, development, and application of knowledge
to local and statewide problems; and
   WHEREAS, The UCDANR has a physical presence in 57 of California's
58 counties and provides California residents with local access to UC
resources; and
   WHEREAS, The UC Cooperative Extension is supporting healthy
communities by developing science-based strategies whose goals
include, but are not limited to, prevention of childhood obesity and
diabetes, reducing pesticide usage in agriculture, offering nutrition
education to limited-resource families and children, enhancing the
safety of our food supply, and protecting state resources from the
harmful effects of invasive species; and
   WHEREAS, The UCDANR Agricultural Experiment Station and the UC
Cooperative Extension develop and disseminate innovations that help
drive California's $35 billion agricultural industry; and
   WHEREAS, In 2011, Master Gardener Program volunteers and 4-H
volunteers trained by the UCDANR dedicated 1.9 million hours of their
time to improving the lives of young people, enhancing their
communities, and providing sound research-based information to
homeowners and backyard gardeners; and
   WHEREAS, The UCDANR has sustained substantial funding cuts in
recent years; and
   WHEREAS, The number of UCDANR academic appointments has decreased
by 18 percent from 1998 to 2008, inclusive, for advisors,
specialists, and Agricultural Experiment Station academics; and
   WHEREAS, Budgetary constraints, vacant positions, and eliminated
positions are requiring individual UC cooperative extensionists to
assume responsibility for multiple counties and threatening their
ability to maintain traditional service levels; and
   WHEREAS, California policymakers and the public at large face
emerging and regulatory issues for which science-based information
will be critical for effective, equitable, and transparent
policymaking; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature supports the programs and
initiatives administered by the University of California Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources and the division's focus on public
service; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature  of the State of California
 requests the United States Department of Agriculture, the
Regents of the University of California, and the board of supervisors
in each county in the state to continue their support and funding of
the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural
Resources; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.