SB 732: General plan: agricultural land.

(1)The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a land use element and an open-space element. Existing law requires the land use element to, among other things, designate the proposed general distribution and general location and extent of the uses of the land for agricultural use. Existing law requires the open-space element to include a plan for the comprehensive and long-range preservation and conservation of open-space land within the city or county that prepares it.

This bill would authorize a city and county to develop an agricultural land component of the city or countys open-space element, or a separate agricultural land element. The bill would require a city or county to comply with specified requirements when preparing that component or element, including identifying and mapping, where applicable, using specified data, agricultural lands that are within the citys or countys jurisdiction; establishing a comprehensive set of goals, policies, and objectives to support the long-term protection of agricultural land; identifying and designating priority land for conservation; and identifying and establishing a set of feasible implementation measures designed to promote those goals, policies, and objectives. The bill would authorize the Department of Conservation, to the extent funds are available, to award grants to a city or county to implement these provisions. The bill would, at least 45 days before adopting or amending the open-space element or the agricultural land element, require a city or county to submit to the department a draft of the agricultural land component or amendment, or agricultural land element or amendment, prepared pursuant to these provisions, and any maps used in creating that component or amendment. The bill would authorize the department to review any drafts submitted, and to provide recommendations to the city or county, as provided. The bill would require the department to give priority consideration for grants, bond proceeds, and other local assistance provided by the department to a city or county that complies with specified requirements. The bill would authorize a city or county with an existing agricultural land component of their open-space element or an existing separate agricultural land element that substantially complies with the requirements set out in this bill, and complies with certain procedures, to receive priority consideration as described in the previous sentence.

(2)Existing law requires the department to prepare, and to update biennially, Important Farmland Series maps using data compiled by the United States Soil Conservation Service, and collect or acquire information on the amount of land converted to or from agricultural use using specified data for every county for which Important Farmland Series maps exist. Existing law requires the department to submit a report to the Legislature on the data collected pursuant to these provisions by June 30, 1988, and biennially thereafter. Existing law also requires the department to update and send counties copies of current Important Farmland Series maps by August 1, 1986, and biennially thereafter.

This bill would require the department to also collect or acquire information on the amount of land converted between agricultural categories. This bill would require the department to submit the report described above to the Legislature by December 31, 2018, and biennially thereafter. The bill would require the department to update and send counties copies of the updated current Important Farmland Series maps by December 31, 2018, and biennially thereafter. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

(3)Existing law establishes the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, otherwise known as the Williamson Act, and authorizes a city or county to enter into 10-year contracts with owners of land devoted to agricultural use, whereby the owners agree to continue using the property for that purpose, and the city or county agrees to value the land accordingly for purposes of property taxation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the cancellation of a Williamson Act contract under certain circumstances, and authorizes the city or county to charge a cancellation fee in an amount equal to 12¹/₂ of the cancellation valuation of the property. Existing law requires these cancellation fees to be transmitted by the county treasurer to the Controller upon collection, and specifies that those cancellation fees are to be deposited in the General Fund, except for a portion of those cancellation fees, as approved in the final Budget Act for each fiscal year, which are to be deposited in the Soil Conservation Fund to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature to support, among other things, the cost of the farmlands mapping and monitoring program of the Department of Conservation.

This bill would provide that if funds are available after providing other specified support, that those funds be used for program support costs incurred by the Department of Conservation in carrying out specified duties of the department related to open-space lands.

(4)Existing law establishes the Agricultural Protection Planning Grant Program within the Department of Conservation to provide planning grants to improve the protection of agricultural lands and grazing lands, including oak woodlands and grasslands. Under existing law, the program authorizes a local government entity, nonprofit organization, authority, or joint powers authority to apply for a grant under the program, to be used for the protection of agricultural lands and grazing lands, and requires those applicants to demonstrate that the changes to the existing goals, objectives, policies, or programs of the city, county, or city and county that will logically result from the grant will improve protection of agricultural land, grazing land, or grasslands. Existing law requires the Department of Conservation, in consultation with certain parties and entities, to develop and adopt guidelines and criteria for awarding grants pursuant to this program. Existing law requires a grant proposal by a park or open-space district, resource conservation district, other special district, nonprofit organization, authority, or joint powers authority to be approved by resolution of the city, county, or city and county, or multiple cities and counties, whose jurisdiction the proposal is intended to benefit.

This bill would eliminate the requirement that a proposal by a nonprofit organization be approved by resolution of the city, county, or city and county, or multiple cities and counties, whose jurisdiction the proposal is intended to benefit. The bill would require the Department of Conservation, prior to awarding funds, to instead develop guidelines and selection criteria for awarding grants in accordance with certain criteria, and would additionally specify that the adoption of guidelines and criteria by the Department of Conservation for awarding grants pursuant to these provisions is not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act.