AB 1826: Organic products.

Existing law, the California Organic Products Act of 2003 (the act), requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, county agricultural commissioners, and the Director of the State Department of Public Health to enforce state and federal laws governing the production, labeling, and marketing of organic products, as specified. Existing federal law establishes the National Organic Program which requires operations that produce or handle organic agricultural products to comply with federal organic standards and be certified by a certifying agent, as specified.

This bill would revise and recast the California Organic Products Act of 2003 as the California Organic Food and Farming Act and would set forth the purposes of the act.

Existing law establishes the California Organic Products Advisory Committee, comprised of 15 members, to advise the secretary on his or her responsibilities under the act.

This bill would revise the composition of the advisory committee and would expand the scope of the advisory committees duties to include advising the secretary on education, outreach, and technical assistance for producers. The bill would authorize the secretary, in consultation with the advisory committee, to establish procedures for and conduct certain activities, including supporting organic agriculture through education, outreach, and other programmatic activities. The bill would specify that penalties collected by the secretary and fees collected by county agricultural commissioners pursuant to the acts provisions shall be expended to fulfill the responsibilities authorized under the act, and would exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a registration fee.

Existing law requires every person engaged in the state in the production or handling of raw agricultural products sold as organic to register with the county agricultural commissioner and specifies the information required on the registration form. Existing law requires a certification organization that certifies product in the state as organic to register with the secretary and to pay an annual registration fee based on the number of clients the organization has certified, up to a maximum of $250.

This bill would require those persons to instead register with the secretary, would revise the registration fees required to be paid by certain registrants, and would revise the information required on the registration form. The bill would also revise the type of information and records that persons who produce, handle, or retail products sold as organic are required to keep or make available. The bill would increase the maximum annual registration fee for certification agencies from $250 to $500.

The bill would define certain terms for purposes of the acts provisions and would make technical and conforming changes to various code sections. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on county agricultural commissioners, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.