BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1175|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1175
Author: Bocanegra (D)
Amended: 8/18/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/17/14
AYES: Galgiani, Cannella, Lieu, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-1, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-19, 5/24/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Food and agriculture: cooperative agreements:
agricultural
inspector associates
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill prohibits the Department of Food and
Agriculture (DFA) from entering into cooperative agreements with
Los Angeles (LA) County for agricultural inspection services
unless not less than 75% of agricultural inspector associates
are afforded protections as permanent employees.
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
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Existing law:
1.Authorizes the Secretary of DFA to enter into cooperative
agreements to carry out and enforce programs that promote and
enhance agriculture, combat invasive pests and diseases,
inspect poultry and meat, or other activities to administer
and enforce these provisions. Specifically, the Secretary
enters into cooperative agreements with county agricultural
commissioners to administer and enforce programs and
inspections on the local level.
2.Defines "counties of the first class" to be counties whose
populations exceed four million residents. According to the
Department of Finance, only LA County exceeds this threshold,
with nearly 10 million residents in January 2013. The next
two most populated counties are Orange and San Diego, both
with just over three million residents.
This bill prohibits the Secretary of DFA from entering into
cooperative agreements with certain counties (LA County) for
year-round agricultural inspector services unless not less than
75% of the agricultural inspector associates are afforded
protections as permanent employees under the county's civil
service or personnel system.
Background
DFA's Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services Division is
responsible for the prevention and control of plant pests and
works cooperatively with county agricultural commissioners to
accomplish these goals. Depending on the specific requirements
for pest monitoring, trapping, and inspections, work is
typically performed by the local county agricultural
commissioner's staff which includes aids, associates, and
inspectors.
In 2003-04 the Legislature passed AB 185 and AB 1896 which
prohibited DFA from entering into cooperative agreements for
agricultural inspections with LA County unless at least 66% of
all agricultural inspector aids were afforded permanent job
classifications. These bills also provided $380,000 in funds to
aid this transition and reduce costs to the county.
Prior/Related Legislation
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AB 74 (Ma, Chapter 666, Statutes of 2011), among other
provisions, re-enacts the prohibition against DFA entering into
cooperative agreements with specified counties unless at least
66% of agricultural inspectors are afforded protections as
permanent employees.
AB 120 (Assembly Committee on the Budget, Chapter 133, Statutes
of 2011) repeals the prohibition against DFA entering into
cooperative agreements with specified counties unless at least
66% of agricultural inspectors are afforded protections as
permanent employees.
AB 1896 (Horton, Chapter 631, Statutes of 2004) prohibits DFA
from entering into cooperative agreements with specified
counties unless at least 66% of agricultural inspector aids are
afforded protections as permanent employees.
AB 185 (Horton, Chapter 832, Statutes of 2003) prohibits DFA
from entering into cooperative agreements with specified
counties unless all agricultural inspector aids are afforded
protections as permanent employees.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill as
currently drafted, will not have a direct fiscal impact to DFA.
However, this bill may result in potential cost pressures to DFA
in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/18/14)
AFSCME, District Council 36
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/18/14)
County of Los Angeles
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, this bill
ensures that agricultural inspector aids would not lose their
permanent status when attempting to receive a promotion by going
through a year-long, temporary associate position. Furthermore,
"Last year, the County realized that Agricultural Inspector
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Associates are not eligible for the promotional exam because
they are not technically permanent employees. There is
currently no process for Associates to be promoted, except at
the discretion of the Agricultural Commissioner. This has
created a totally arbitrary process for evaluating which
employees should be promoted."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : LA County is concerned that this
bill "would eliminate the entry-level class in the
Agricultural/Weights & Measures inspector series, and would
preclude incumbents from: (1) gaining the necessary
on-the-job-training; (2) meeting all educational requirements;
and (3) competing for permanent inspector positions."
Furthermore, this bill does not provide the funding needed to
mandate staffing with permanent employees, and the increased
staffing costs could preclude the LA County Agricultural
Commissioner from entering into agreements to perform
inspections for DFA in the future.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-19, 5/24/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon,
Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal,
Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Stone, Ting,
Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,
Gorell, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonta, Grove, Hagman, Holden, Skinner,
Waldron, Wilk, Vacancy, Vacancy
JL:e 8/18/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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