BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2561|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2561
Author: Bradford (D), et al.
Amended: 7/1/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-1, 6/17/14
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Roth
NOES: Wyland
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Jackson, Anderson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 5/29/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Personal agriculture in common-interest
developments and rental housing
SOURCE : Sustainable Economies Law Center
DIGEST : This bill establishes conditions under which
residents of common-interest developments (CIDs) and tenants in
rental housing may engage in personal agriculture.
ANALYSIS : A CID is a real property development that includes
all of the following: (1) separate ownership of a lot or unit
coupled with an undivided interest in common property; (2)
covenants, conditions, and restrictions that limit use of both
the common area and separate ownership interests; and (3)
management of common property and enforcement of restrictions by
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AB 2561
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a community association, which a board of directors, generally
elected, governs. Condominiums, planned unit developments,
stock cooperatives, community apartments, and many
resident-owned mobile home parks all fall under the CID
umbrella. The Davis-Stirling Common-Interest Development Act is
the principal law that governs CIDs in California.
The Civil Code regulates the rental of real property, including
housing.
This bill establishes conditions under which residents of a CID
and tenants in rental housing may engage in personal
agriculture. This bill defines personal agriculture as the
cultivation of edible plant crops for personal use, not
including marijuana or illegal or unlawful crops or substances.
CIDs
With respect to CIDs, this bill provides that any provision of a
CID governing document is void and unenforceable if it
effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the use of a
homeowner's exclusive-use backyard for personal agriculture.
This bill further defines the reasonable restrictions that a CID
may impose as restrictions that do not significantly increase
the cost of engaging in personal agriculture or significantly
decrease its efficiency.
Rental housing
With respect to rental housing on properties of one or two
units, this bill requires a landlord to permit a tenant to
participate in personal agriculture in portable containers in
the tenant's outdoor, ground-level, backyard area if the
following conditions are met:
The tenant regularly removes any dead plant material and
weeds, unless the landlord and tenant agree otherwise.
The plant crop will not interfere with the maintenance of the
rental property.
The placement of the portable containers does not interfere
with any tenant's parking spot.
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The landlord approves of the location, placement, and type of
the portable containers, and the containers do not create a
health and safety hazard, block doorways, or interfere with
walkways, utility services, or equipment.
This bill further:
Allows a landlord to prohibit the use of synthetic chemical
products.
Allows a landlord to require the tenant to pay excess water
and waste collection bills arising from the tenant's personal
agriculture activities.
Reiterates the existing ability of a landlord to periodically
inspect any area where the tenant is engaging in personal
agriculture.
Clarifies that a landlord may approve the cultivation of plant
crops outside of portable containers.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/20/14)
Sustainable Economies Law Center (source)
Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
Center for Food Safety
City Slicker Farms
Community Food and Justice Coalition
Earth Law Center
Eastbay Area Reciprocity Network
Ecological Farming Association
Growing Affordable Fresh Produce for West Oakland
Long Beach Grows
Mendocino Food Policy Council
Oakland Food Policy Council
Phat Beets Produce
Pirate Produce
Planting Justice
Portside Community Market
Sacramentans for Sustainable Community Agriculture
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San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance
Santa Barbara Food Alliance
Slow Food California
Slow Food Los Angeles
Slow Food Redlands
Social Justice Learning Institute
Ubuntu Green
Virtually Green
Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge, & Services
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/20/14)
Community Association Institute
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill seeks to ensure that people have the ability to grow edible
fruits and vegetables at home for personal use. In addition,
this bill seeks to increase access to fresh produce for all
Californians, especially those in low-income areas. Just like
the rest of the nation, California is experiencing a rising
epidemic of obesity-related illnesses. Two-thirds of American
adults and nearly one-third of American children are obese or
overweight, putting them at risk for developing chronic
diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. In
California, one in every nine children, one in three teens, and
over one-half of adults are already overweight or obese. Many
of these health conditions are preventable and curable through
lifestyle choices that include consumption of healthy fresh
foods. This bill empowers individuals to grow food at home on a
small scale, which will lead to positive economic, health, and
environmental outcomes.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Community Association Institute
(CAI), opposed unless amended, asserts that amendments to this
bill are necessary to clarify the definition of "backyard"
because "[p]eople may not understand that the back yard that
they see may, in fact, not be theirs to use as it may be the
HOA's [homeowners' association] 'common area'. Hence,
clarifying that the yard where the crops may be planted is the
"exclusive use back yard." CAI also contends that this bill
should be amended to incorporate container and chemical product
use restrictions for CIDs as the bill provides for apartments,
rather than have 50,000 HOAs attempt to promulgate these
restrictions. CAI also proposes a technical amendment to this
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bill to correct an error.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 5/29/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Fong, Frazier,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox,
Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Garcia, Vacancy
JA:k 8/20/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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