BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 513
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 29, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
SB 513 (Cannella) - As Amended: June 20, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Renderers and farmers' markets: regulatory fees.
SUMMARY : Creates a Rendering Industry Advisory Board (RIAB),
including membership and duties; reauthorizes the licensing of
renderers and the collection of fees; and, extends the sunset
for Certified Farmers' Market (CFM) fees until January 1, 2014.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates a seven member RIAB, appointed by the Secretary of the
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), of which
six are to be subject to rendering licensure by CDFA, as
specified, and one is to be a public member.
2)Requires at least one appointee subject to licensure to have
experience and expertise in alternative uses of rendering
products, including but not limited to, energy, alternative
fuels, lubricants, and other nontraditional uses.
3)Requires the public member to have experience and expertise in
one or more of the following:
a) Water quality;
b) Publicly owned treatment works and water infrastructure;
or,
c) Law enforcement.
4)Prohibits board members from receiving a salary, but entitles
them for reimbursement of necessary travel expenses in
accordance with Department of Personnel Administration rules
and regulations, and are to be paid from appropriations made
to CDFA for that purpose.
5)Provides terms of RIAB to be three years and establishes that
of the first appointees, three will serve for three years, two
for two years, and two for one year; thereafter, appointees
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will serve for three years. All vacancies are required to be
filled by CDFA for the unexpired terms.
6)Requires RIAB to elect a chairperson and any other officers as
may be deemed necessary.
7)Requires RIAB to meet once a year and upon the call of the
chairperson, CDFA, or any three RIAB members. Specifies a
quorum to be five RIAB members and a vote of the majority of
RIAB members, when a quorum is present, to constitute an act
of RIAB.
8)Restricts any member, or employee or agent thereof, from
personal liability for actions of RIAB or responsible
individually in any way for errors in judgment, mistakes, or
other acts, either by commission or omission, except for
personal acts of dishonesty or crime.
9)Requires RIAB to advise CDFA and permits recommendations to be
made to CDFA on the following:
a) Adoption, modification and repeal of regulations and
procedures;
b) Procedures for employment, training, supervision, and
compensation of inspectors and other personnel:
c) Rate and collection of license fees and penalties
related thereto;
d) Acquisition and use of equipment;
e) Posting and noticing changes in bylaws, general
procedures, or orders; and,
f) All matters pertaining to rendering law, including, but
not limited to, the inspection and enforcement program,
annual budgets, necessary fees to provide adequate
services, and regulations required to accomplish the
purposes of this statute.
10)Requires RIAB to keep accurate books and records of its
activities and be subject to annual audits by a firm approved
by CDFA, to be done during regular business hours as requested
by CDFA. Audits are to be made a part of the annual report
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submitted to all persons licensed under this statute.
11)Prohibits the disclosure of any proprietary information of
persons subject to this statute, including material test
results, individual fees or license payments, rendering
process, or formula information, to persons subject to this
statute.
12)Authorizes CDFA to adopt regulations and procedures to be
used by RIAB to administer this statute. Pursuant to these
regulations, CDFA is required to accept the recommendations of
RIAB if they find them to be practicable and in the interest
of the rendering industry and the public. Requires CDFA,
within 30 days of receiving any RIAB recommendations, to
notify RIAB of their acceptance or provide a written statement
of reasons they were not accepted.
13)Authorizes an additional fee of not more than $3,000 per year
on each licensed rendering plant or collection center or
transporter of inedible kitchen grease, to cover the
reasonable cost of administering this statute. CDFA is
required to fix this fee annually, and may fix a different fee
for rendering plants and collection centers, fix the due date
of the fee, and limits only one additional fee for licensed
renderers that are also licensed transporters of inedible
kitchen grease. Unpaid fees are subject to a penalty of 10%
per annum. This authority will sunset on July 1, 2016.
14)Extends the stall fee per vender at a CFM until January 1,
2014.
15)Extends the penalty and enforcement provisions for CFMs until
January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW provides definitions to govern this Chapter;
requires the licensure of every person engaged in collecting,
hauling, and processing of specified meat not fit for human
consumption that expires one year from issuance and exempts
transporters of inedible kitchen grease from the registration
fee, but not the registration as a hauler, if they are already
licensed. Also, authorizes licensure fees; procedures for
denial, revocation or suspension of license, and use of funds.
Requires registration and licensure of inedible kitchen grease;
authorizes fees; procedures for revocation of license; and, use
of funds.
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Exempts farmers that market direct to consumers from standard
pack and size requirements; authorizes CDFA to adopt regulations
to permit the direct selling of certified and non-certified
agricultural products to consumers; authorizes the collection of
up to sixty cents per farmer per market day to be used as
specified; provides for an appointed advisory committee; permits
CFMs to establish rules and procedures that are more restrictive
than the state rules; provides for civil penalties for
violations of rules; and, provides for appeal and decision
process by CDFA. The authority for fees authority and
violations and enforcement, sunset January 1, 2012.
Authorizes CDFA to appoint ad hoc advisory committees to assist
in the administration of programs under their authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, extension of the rendering collection program will
generate approximately $216,000 in Special Funds (SF)and the CFM
program extension will generate approximately $230,000 in SF.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the creation of RIAB will
provide better oversight of the industry and deal with issues on
enforcement, fees, and management of the program, while advising
CDFA on these matters. The re-enactment of the authority to
collect fees for enforcement purposes is essential for
maintaining enforcement practices in the state.
Additionally, this bill extends sunset dates for CFMs' fee
authority and for violations and enforcement authority for two
years. Typically, sunsets are extended for five years, but the
author, in response to recent reports of vendors being in
violation of the statutes, and the CFM advisory committee
releasing a report critical of CDFA's enforcement abilities and
actions, has reduced the extension date in an effort to cause
the industry to expedite discussions on how to better enforce
the CFM's program's standards and statutes.
Rendering is a critical recycling activity most people are not
aware of. Within California, we have some four million dairy
cows, of which roughly 350,000, along with a million companion
animals, need to be disposed of annually, in an environmentally
safe manner, as well as in a manner safe to human health. This
industry is comprised of renderers and facilities, collection
centers, dead haulers, and haulers of inedible kitchen grease.
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These products can cause both environmental and human health
problems if not handled and disposed of in the proper manner.
When handled properly, they can be turned into new products and
sold.
The creation of RIAB should assist CDFA to better communicate
with the industry and for the industry to better communicate
with CDFA, as well as, improve deficiencies currently occurring
in the management of the program.
Recent investigative reporting has discovered a rash of vendors
participating in various CFMs that had not grown the products
they were selling, which is a major violation of the CFM's
statutes. It was discovered that lack of funding to coordinated
enforcement by CDFA and county agricultural commissioners (CAC)
permitted this to occur. The CFM advisory committee appointed a
subcommittee to review and make recommendations for improving
enforcement. The primary shortfall is a lack of funding for
both CDFA and CAC.
The purpose of the current fee of sixty cents, created in 1999,
was to strengthen CDFA's enforcement efforts, among other uses
of the funds. Since then, CDFA has taken a significant
reduction in general fund revenues and has had to restructure
many programs and reduced staff. This has permitted some things
to slip, such as CFM's enforcement.
While the author states the two year extension is to expedite
the CFM industry to discuss how to improve enforcement, the bill
does not provide for any required response, timelines, or
reporting to anyone in how to accomplish such improvements. The
committee may wish to ask the author how this will be
accomplished.
A quorum, for a committee of seven, is typically four. This
bill established a quorum of five, which may cause more
difficulty in achieving a quorum, and thereby prevent RIAB from
conducting business.
The protection of proprietary information in Section 19218.5
(page 5, line 3) covers five items but does not include
applications for registration or licensing. The committee may
wish to consider broadening the prohibition of disclosure of
proprietary information by adding "but not limited to" after
"including" on page 5, line 7. This would permit additional
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items not listed, to be considered proprietary and not disclosed
to RIAB members.
Regarding CDFA's adoption of regulations to be used to govern
RIAB, CDFA is required to accept the recommendations of RIAB
within 30 days or respond in writing with the reasons why
recommendations were not accepted. The committee may wish to
consider if this requirement should also be included in all
RIAB's recommendations regarding matters pertaining to this
statute.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Grain and Feed Association (Co-Sponsor)
Pacific Coast Rendering Association (Co-Sponsor)
California Certified Organic Farmers
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084