Amended in Senate March 26, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1399

Introduced by Senator Galgiani

February 21, 2014

An act to amend Sections 52323, 52324, and 52325 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agriculture, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1399, as amended, Galgiani. Agricultural seed: county seed enforcement subventions.

Existing law, the California Seed Law, provides for an optional subvention program under which a county may enter into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to receive an annual apportionment of funds from the secretary for maintaining a statewide compliance level on all seed within the county. Under those provisions, a county with no registered seed labelers may annually receive $100, at the discretion of the secretary and upon recommendation of the Seed Advisory Board, and a county with registered seed labeler operations may annually receive a subvention based on enforcement activity generated by the registered seed labeler operations within the county, and upon the performance of enforcement activities, begin delete as specified. end delete begin insert in accordance with a method for calculating apportionments for participating counties based on units of activity, as specified. end insert Existing law makes those provisions inoperative on July 1, 2016, except as specified, and repeals those provisions on January 1, 2017.

This bill would extend the operative date specified above to July 1, 2019, and would extend the repeal date to January 1, 2020. begin insert The bill would delete the provisions establishing a method of calculating apportionments based on units of activity, and would instead require the amount of the subvention designated to each participating county to be established in a memorandum of understanding between the county agricultural commissioner and the secretary, in consultation with the Seed Advisory Board. end insert

Under existing law, the fees collected pursuant to the California Seed Law are continuously appropriated to the Department of Food and Agriculture to carry out its provisions.

By extending the operation of these subvention provisions, this bill would make an appropriation.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 52323 of the Food and Agricultural Code
is amended to read:

52323.  

(a) The department’s cost of carrying out this chapter
shall be funded from money that is received by the secretary
pursuant to this chapter. The secretary shall also pay annually, in
arrears, one hundred twenty thousand dollars ($120,000), to
counties as an annual subvention for costs incurred in the
enforcement of this chapter. The department’s costs of
administering this chapter shall be paid before allocating funds to
the counties under this section.

(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2019, and,
as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

SEC. 2.  

Section 52324 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:

52324.  

(a) The subvention program under Section 52323 is
an optional program available to counties. The subvention to
counties under Section 52323 shall be annually apportioned as
follows:

(1) At the discretion of the secretary and upon recommendation
of the Seed Advisory Board, counties with no registered seed
labelers may annually receive one hundred dollars ($100).

(2) Counties with registered seed labeler operations shall receive
subventions based upon begin delete units of end delete enforcement activity generated
by the registered seed labeler operations within the county and
upon the performance of enforcement activities necessary to carry
out this chapter. begin delete The units of activity shall be determined by the
secretary, taking into consideration the number of lots and kinds
of seed labeled by each registered seed labeler operation within
the county. The rate per unit of activity shall be established by
dividing the total statewide units of activity into the annual funds
available to the counties under Section 52323 after deducting the
amount required for subventions in paragraph (1). Apportionment end delete
begin delete to individual counties shall be based upon the county’s total units
of activity performed multiplied by the established rate. end delete

(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2020,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends that date.

SEC. 3.  

Section 52325 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:

52325.  

(a) Commissioners of counties that choose to participate
in the subvention program shall enter into a cooperative agreement
with the secretary, whereby the commissioner agrees to maintain
a statewide compliance level, determined by the secretary, on all
seed within the county. The cooperative agreement shall be in
effect for a five-year period. begin delete The units of activity and
apportionment calculated under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a)
of Section 52324 end delete begin insert The amount of the subvention designated end insert to each
individual participating county shall be established begin delete annually end delete in a
memorandum of understanding between the commissioner and
the begin delete secretary. end delete begin insert secretary, in consultation with the board. end insert

(b) The secretary, upon recommendation of the board or upon
the secretary’s own initiative, may withhold a portion of the funds
designated to a county begin delete pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a) of Section 52324 end delete if that county fails to meet the performance
standards established by the secretary and set forth in the
cooperative agreement with that county.

(c) The secretary shall provide a written justification to the board
for any action taken by the secretary that does not fully implement
a recommendation made by the board pursuant to subdivision (b).

(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2019, and,
as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.