Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture

All right. Well, good morning and thank you so much for joining us at the Senate Committee on Agriculture. We're grateful that you are here today. Chairwoman Melissa Hurtado sends her regrets, she will be back next week. We'd like to be able to take care of some housekeeping prior to getting into today's hearing. The Senate Committee on Agriculture welcomes folks both here in room 112 as well as online. We're going to welcome your participation on each of the bills that we're going to hear today.

If you are watching online and would like to better participate via our live teleconference line, here is the number (844) 291-5491 and that code is 704-2477 we have four bills on our agenda today, two on consent, SB 624 and SB 780. We also have two bills queued up on our regular agenda, SB 547 and SB 862. We'd like to be able to take care of some Committee business. Is there a motion to approve the Committee rules as printed? We have a motion by Vice Chair Grove.

Thank you so much. Madam Clerk, if you don't mind calling the roll?

[Roll call]

Thank you so much. That is a 3-0 vote. The Committee rules have been adopted. That's always really helpful. Hold tight. As you can tell, I have not done this in a while. We got to establish the quorum. Thank you so much. My goodness. Let's establish the quorum and then we'll use that 3-0 vote. Please, Madam Clerk.

[Roll call]

Thank you so much. We have a quorum that has been established. We do have a motion on the floor by Senator Grove, Vice Chair Grove, on the Senate rules. Madam Clerk, why don't we just make sure we do that roll over again. If you can, please call the roll on the Committee rules. Madam Clerk.

[Roll call]

That is a 3-0 vote. The Committee rules have been adopted for a second time. Just making sure that we are good and safe. Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. We're now going to be taking up today's consent calendar. We have two items on the consent calendar, SB 624 and SB 780. Is there a motion to approve? We have a motion by the Vice Chair. Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll?

[Roll call]

Committee members, thank you so much. We're very grateful. We are going to be getting into our action bills today. We're going to welcome Mr. Laird, Senator Laird from the great city of Santa Cruz, SB 862. We welcome you, sir, to Committee. And Senator Padilla will not be with us today, so we'll be working on a three member Committee today. Senator Laird, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Senate Bill 862 seeks to offer a greater consumer representation on the Agricultural Pest Control Advisory Committee by increasing the number of board members representing the general public. Some of you, this bill might seem familiar. It got out of this Committee last year, but we had an emergency before the emergency in Pajaro, and I used this bill to get advanced funds for that levee project, which, unfortunately, was not constructed before the levee broke.

And so I'm bringing back the bill this year to get it done. And the Advisory Committee advises the Director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation ensures competent and responsible individuals and businesses safely perform pest control. It's a public transparency measure. I would be happy to answer any questions, and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Bill. We have a motion on the floor by the Vice Chair. We're now going to be going to witnesses. If there is an individual in support of this bill here in room 112, can you please step forward? Hearing and seeing none. Is there anyone in opposition? Hearing and seeing none. We now would like to be able to go to our live lines. Remember the reminder, (844) 291-5491 with a code of 704-2477.

Mr. Moderator, if we can please go to the live line now and see if we have anyone in support of SB 862. Support of SB 862. Mr. Moderator.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you have support for SB 862 at this moment, press one then zero on your telephone keypad. We have nobody that has queued up.

Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator. Mr. Moderator, we're going to make sure that we cover all of our bases. We'd like to be able to see if there is anyone on the line in opposition of SB 862.

At this point for opposition of this Bill, press one, then zero at this time. We have no opposition.

Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator. We do have a motion on the floor. Is there any discussion or debate by Committee? Hearing and seeing none.

I respectfully ask for aye vote.

Thank you so much, Mr. Senator. Madam Clerk, why don't we call the roll? I apologize about that, Mr. Laird.

The motion is due pass, but first re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. [Roll call]

That is a 3-0 vote. That Bill is out. Mr. Laird, thank you for your work on this. You have been inundated with disaster after disaster, and there's no one better. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Mr. Laird, it's good to see you. All right, we're going to be going to our final Bill for the day. This is SB 547. We're going to say good morning to Senator Blakespear. Senator Blakespear, it's wonderful to see you. Please come on up. We welcome you to Committee and thank you for your work on this issue and on issues of housing. Senator Blakespear, the floor is yours.

Well, thank you. So, hello. Thank you for having me here today. It's wonderful to be underneath this majestic painting of Yosemite, and I love this room. So thank you for having your hearing here. So I would like to thank the acting chair today and my colleagues and staff. Today I present to you SB 547 which clarifies the option for district agricultural associations to pursue construction and maintenance of affordable housing on stateowned property.

One of the key barriers our local communities in California are facing in addressing affordable housing needs is the lack of low cost land that is suitable for such development. State-owned land like fairgrounds are valuable assets that have been underutilized for this purpose. Many of these parcels are located near transit, jobs, schools and parks, making them great candidates for housing development.

With California's ongoing housing crisis in mind, it is in the best interest of the state to provide available state owned land to affordable housing developers at low or no cost. This bill will clarify the authority of district agricultural associations to develop and maintain affordable housing on state owned land. In closing, I urge an aye vote.

Thank you so much, Senator Blakespear, we're grateful that you're here today. We'd like to be able to see if there's anyone here wanting to testify in support of the bill. Hearing and seeing none. We'd like to be able to see if there's anyone in room 12 who would like to be able to testify in opposition. Hearing and seeing none. Committee Members, we're now going to be going to our live line to be able to check in with the Moderator.

Mr. Moderator, we're going to check in with you first on support. Are there any individuals who would like to be able to speak in support of SB 547 now on the live line?

If you have support for SB 547, press one, then zero at this time. We have nobody in support on the line.

Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator. Let's do it one more time. Let's check in to see if there's anyone in opposition of Senate Bill 547.

Opposition for 547, press one, then zero at this time. We have nobody in opposition at the moment.

Mr. Moderator, great job today. Thank you so much. Short and sweet. Let's turn it over to Committee to be able to see if we have questions or comments. Madam Vice Chair, floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one comment. It's my understanding that this Bill already covers something that's an existing law that fares and other public properties can already be transitioned or sold. They just have to get DGs approval. So does your bill do something other than authorized DGS approval, or does it remove that DGS approval?

It doesn't remove anything. It clarifies that all the different types of transactions are possible, like leases as well. So it might not be that we want state owned property to go into the private market. Maybe we want long term leases. So it clarifies the multiple different types of ways that affordable housing could be built.

Thank you, Senator Blakespear. Move the Bill.

Thank you so much. We have a motion by the Vice Chair. We'd like to better turn it over to Senator Alvarado-Gil for additional discussion.

I just wanted to clarify, in the staff analysis, there was a reference to San Joaquin county. Can you tell me a little bit about how San Joaquin county is already using the excess property and what their intention is?

Well, I don't know deeply about that project. I only know at the top level that it's in discussion and planning, and there are lots of different routes it could go. We have a fairgrounds in my district as well, which I know better. But I know that there are lots of different types of housing that are also complementary to DAA operations. And then there are a bunch of other types of housing that could be relevant as well.

I think as we look at all the different state-owned lands in the State of California, conceiving of these properties as possible for housing and making it explicit that it's all allowed is what this bill is aimed to do.

So I'm going to use the example of Amador county. So we have a fairgrounds. That is state owned property. And although the intent is to increase more affordable housing there is a concern at the local level around aging infrastructure, sewer and water lines that just would not be able to withstand additional building.

Is there an aspect of this bill or work that's being done in conjunction with this bill that would help to alleviate some of those concerns from small counties or small communities that would be impacted by increased housing?

Yeah, I mean, the infrastructure requirements for housing developments would be specific to that proposed project. This bill isn't aimed at creating any new funding streams or mandates. It's really just to clarify all of the options that are available. But certainly those are legitimate concerns that with any individual project, need to be addressed.

Thank you so much, Senator. No further questions.

Thank you so much, Madam Senator. Madam Senator, I just want to tell you how grateful we are for your work on this, your continued engagement, obviously, with the AG Association, and for your focus on workforce housing. It's absolutely critical. Madam Senator, we're going to turn it over to you for any closing comments.

I respectfully urge an aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here today. We do have a motion on the floor by Vice Chair Grove. Madam Clerk, if you can please call the roll.

[Roll call]

That's a 3-0 vote. The Bill is out. We're going to close the roll. Thank you so much, Senator Blakespear, for your wonderful job. On a quick housekeeping note, before we adjourn, we do want to let folks know that today's informational hearing on food security at the border to the table has been postponed. That is temporary. We will get back to you with another rescheduled date in the not so distant future.

I want to take a moment to say thank you so much to our chief consultant, who has been incredibly patient here with myself along with Madam Clerk. Very grateful. And to Republican consultant, thank you so much for your patience. Very grateful for that. And our Senate Committee on Agriculture is now adjourned.