Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture

But before we begin, I'd like to cover just a few logistics for all those who will be providing comments today. We ask that you please state your name and the organization you represent, and if you support or oppose the bill being considered, any Member of the public may also submit written comments to our Committee through email.

Emails may be sent to the address found on the Committee's website, which is agri.comittyassembly.ca.gov. Today we have seven bills on the file, three bills are on consent, and we will hear the bill presentations in file order.

If the author of the next bill on the file is not in the room, we will immediately move to the next bill. bill on the file. And since, as I mentioned earlier, since we don't have a quorum, we will open the hearing as a Subcommitee to allow the bill presentations once we have authors in the room.

If we don't have a quorum by the end of the presentation of the bill, they will be placed on call until we do so, just for information. So, since we don't have any authors right now in the room, so hopefully we'll get some shortly. I did want to share a fun fact.

I think I started this, you know, the first in the first Committee. But for all of those that don't know, June is National Dairy month. National Dairy Month first began in 1937 as national milk month to promote drinking milk to us consumers. A couple fun facts. Milk is the only food that you can actually survive on alone.

It's pretty nifty, right? It has every nutrient that you need. Also, a cow turns grass into milk within two to three days. Depending on the breed, a cow can make between 25 to 40 liters of milk per day. And obviously all 50 states in the US have dairy farms.

I will say that I represent a district that has many dairy farms and very proud of that. So we don't have anything yet. So we will wait here patiently. Today is a very busy day, and so you guys can imagine, Senators are, I know, are writing to different committees, but as soon as the first Senator comes, we will begin with bill presentations.

Welcome, Senator Rubio. We are operating as a Subcommitee.

As you know, folks are running around, but since you are the first author to be here, we would love for you to present, file item number six, Senate Bill 1419. Senator Rubio, please proceed when you are ready.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. There we go. Thank you so much, Madam Chair and Members of this Committee, it's an honor to be here presenting SB 1419. It's a bill that will establish the Food Desert Elimination Act of 2024 to help address food insecurity for communities with low-income households.

And it will tackle the most vulnerable in terms of making sure that they have access to good, nutritious meals. So today, I wanted to share this because it's critically important for me, in particular in some of our communities. As we know, not everyone has good nutrition in their supermarkets nearby.

And so this will ensure that we have this established so that we can incentivize the.

So, we can incentivize people to come to our low-income communities, especially have access to healthy, fresh food options by establishing the Food Desert Elimination Grant for grocery stores, specifically in areas of risk of becoming a food desert. Members compared to the rest of the nation, California has the largest number of supplemental nutrition assistant program recipients with the pandemic increasing in numbers.

In April of 2023, following and rescinding the supplemental snap allotment, food insecurity just grew exponentially. In October 2023, more than one in five families became now food insecure. While food insecurity is the inability to afford nutritionally adequate and safe food, it includes limited or uncertain access to food supply as well.

And according to the 2022 USDA data, 10.5% of California households, that is 4.1 million households, or 11.8 million residents, are in food deserts. My community happens to be one of those. And this bill will address the incentivizing of communities to establish grocery stores that will provide healthy, fresh food.

So, this bill will also create employment opportunities which are desperately needed in some of our communities. Today with me, I have two incredible leaders. Leticia Garcia with the California Grocers Association, who's the bill sponsor. And my second witness here with me is Stephanie Estrada. She's representing the City of San Jose. So, I'll start with you. Thank you.

Thank you. Chair and Committee Members. Stephanie Estrada with Cruz Strategies on behalf of the City of San Jose, and we're in support of SB 1419. We appreciate the author for putting forth this important measure. Food insecurity is a significant and persistent issue for San Jose's low-income residents and families, which was exacerbated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to increasing costs for food and everyday essentials. SB 1419 will make modest investments that will bring long-term grocery stores to low-income communities like East and South San Jose. SB 1419 is just one important piece of the puzzle. And for those reasons, we support SB 1419. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair and members. Leticia Garcia with the California Groceries Association is proud sponsors of this bill. We want to thank the Senator for championing this issue as well.

Through COVID, we saw a lot of folks become food insecure, and we think with this bill, we will be able to bring healthy and affordable foods to people in those underserved communities. Other states have already adopted similar measures like this, and they have proved very successful. They have proven very successful.

And even here in California in 2016, we had a project with the California Endowment to establish new grocery stores in the Los Angeles and San Diego area that are still running today. So, this is a great investment for the communities to bring not only large-scale grocers, but also small-scale as well.

And we're constantly being asked by local and state electives on how we can bring grocery stores into a community. And it's not as easy as one may think, because these are very large investments, ranging between seven to $15 million just to open up a store without actually including labor costs.

So, you know, this bill will attract investments into communities, and it would also bring, you know, more economic options, economic development in those communities with creating jobs and also bringing other businesses that can be, can be there for those anchor stores. And so, this is, for these reasons, we support this bill, and we request an aye vote.

Thank you.

Thank you for that. Is there anyone in opposition to this bill? You can come forward. At this time, seeing that there's none at this time, we will open it up for public comment. Do we have members of the audience that would like to register their support or opposition for this bill?

If so, please come to the mic. State your name, whether you support or oppose this Bill.

Good afternoon. Jared Maas on behalf of the City of Long Beach and the City of Riverside. Support.

Great. Thank you. Do we have any Members of the Committee with questions or comments?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to thank the California Grocers Association for stepping up and helping our communities and to the Senator also for bringing this great bill. I think we would move this bill already, but we're still in a subcommittee. What are we in? Yes, almost there. Thank you.

Before you close, Senator, I just want to appreciate you bringing this bill forward. Obviously, once we have an established quorum, we will be able to move the bill.

But I did just want to make a few comments, because similarly to kind of the issues that you've represented, especially for the urban communities, I represent a district that is rural and actually known to be part of the bread basket of this world, and yet there is food insecurity and also food deserts.

In fact, when I was a city council member in the City of Fresno, I also proposed a policy to try to incentivize grocery stores to come into these types of neighborhoods by doing an incentive of eliminating impact fees to try and reduce costs to try to attract grocery stores.

I do also just want to share that I'm appreciative that you've not only focused on having the kind of bigger grocery stores, but I represent a lot of small communities that maybe don't support kind of the traditional grocery stores.

So, including some of the smaller footprint grocery stores, I think, are very critical, especially to the small cities and small rural, and incorporate areas that I represent in the Central Valley. So, thank you for putting that detail into your bill. So, Senator Rubio, if you'd like to close.

And I know that it seems like such a simple concept, right, a grocery store in our communities, but it's necessary.

And I think always the misconception is sometimes we do think of the central valley of having, like, we don't have any grocery stores, and yet I have such a dense 85,000 residents in one of my communities, and we don't have any options. And so, there's always a misconception of more dense communities having all these grocery stores.

And that's not the reality. But on top of not having grocery stores, we want to make sure that they also have access to healthy foods. And this is why this bill is so important. So, thank you to all of you.

Great. So as soon as we have a quorum, which we just need one more member, we will move the bill. But know that the recommendation is to move the bill to Appropriations. Thank you. Senator Hurtado and AG Chairwoman for the Senate, if you want to come on up.

So we will move forward with file item two, Senate Bill 1367 by Senator Hurtado, who is also our Senate AG Chairwoman. This is, you know, the second bill being heard or the first bill of two bills that you have that you will be presenting. So, Senator Hurtado, please proceed with your bill when you're ready.

Well, good afternoon, Madam Chair and Members of the Committee, first and foremost, congratulations. I don't think I've had the opportunity to congratulate you on being the Chair of AG for the Assembly on the record.

And so I want to take that opportunity to say congratulations and happy to be here today to talk to you about a bill that we're pushing forward, SB 1367.

And so SB 1367 is a Safe Animal Feed Education Program, and what it's looking to do is extend the sunset of the existing program from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2031. So in 2004, Assembly Bill 1071 expanded the use of funds from the Tonage assessment for commercial feed to include research and education objectives.

These research and education goals are achieved through CDFA's Safe Animal Feed Education Program for feed handlers and mills. The Safe program provides educational resources, training programs, outreach opportunities. If the sunset is not extended, the funds allocated for the safe program will cease.

The passage of SB 1367 would allow for further protection of the Safe program and continue the unique collaboration between Safe the commercial feed industry and researchers. This bill has received bipartisan support throughout the Committee process and I respectfully ask for an aye vote on this measure today. I do have with me today in support of SB 1367.

Annalee Augustine, representing the California Grain and Feed Association

Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Members. Annalee Augustine on behalf of the California Grain and Feed Association, we represent producers of feed and nutrients for California's livestock farmers and companion pet owners. We're proud to sponsor SB 1367, which extends the authority for the secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture to designate funding for the safe program.

There is currently a tonnage assessment charged per ton of commercial feed sold, and the Department can dedicate a portion of that towards this research and education. That's the only funding right now that goes toward the Safe program. Specific examples of what the Safe program provides is industry workshops, food safety plan consultations, and voluntary label reviews.

This has become increasingly important as the amount and diversity of animal feed commodities used in California has increased substantially over the last decade. SB 1367 also extends the sunset on the authority for the Department to set the licensing fee for the commercial feed regulatory program between $100 and $600.

This supports the required sampling, quality assurance inspections, and the needed responses to consumer complaints and actual enforcement of the laws.

If not extended, then the Department would lose the ability to set that fee between $100 and $600, and then money could then possibly be pulled from what is now collected through the tonnage assessment and therefore also impact and the reduced amount for the Safe program. For these reasons, we are proud to support this bill. Thank you to the Senator and respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Is there anyone here in opposition? At this time since there's none, we will open it up for the public. Do we have Members of the public that would like to register their support or opposition for this bill? Great. Seeing none. Do any Members of the Committee have questions or comments? Seeing none. So we.

Oh, we just have a quorum. Okay. So. Awesome. Let us. Yeah. Let's first establish quorum. So, Madam Secretary, if you could please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Great. So now we do have a quorum. There is a motion, I believe. And was there a second? Perfect. Senator Hurtado would you like to close on your bill?

Thank you. And I respectfully ask just for an aye vote.

Great. So we do have a motion and a second. The motion on the bill is due pass to Appropriations. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

On SB 1367, Hurtado. Motion due pass to Appropriations. [Roll Call]

So the bill has five votes. We will leave it on call so that other Members can add on, but we can move on. Senator, to file item three.

We'll move on to file item three. Senate Bill 1448, the second bill by Senator Hurtado, also the Ag Chairwoman. Senator Hurtado, please proceed with your bill when you are ready.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm here to present SB 1448, a bill that will increase access to land and markets for small and underserved farmers. Access to land is a significant hurdle for small, underserved and limited resources. Farmers land access is multifaceted and complex, with a combination of historical discrimination and theft.

Paired with today's increasing pressure of hedge funds and private investment companies rapidly purchasing agricultural land. Across California, local and regional food supply chains have been drastically underfunded and under resourced, leaving small family farmers to develop new supply chains with little to no financial support to invest in the infrastructure necessary for sustainable transformation.

SB 1448 addresses essential equity issues for two important existing programs and would implement the following reforms. One, it will clarify that task force Members may receive a reasonable per diem using existing or private funds, similar to other task force and Committee uses. It will ensure that the agricultural Land Equity Task Force report is made public.

It also streams line the Farm to Community Food hub program Advisory Committee by reducing the number of Committee Members being less prescriptive and allowing for Members of existing CDFA committees to serve and it extends a sunset for the farm to community food hub program to ensure it has sufficient time to comply with reporting requirements.

With me here to testify and support, I have Beth Smoker, policy Director of the California Food and Farming Networking Network. Sorry about that. Michael Jarrod, principal and founder with regenerative Strategies Consulting Good afternoon, chair Members.

Thank you. Michael Jarrett, on behalf of theCommunity Alliance With Family Farmers. CAF represents over 8000 small and historically underserved family farms. Caf is the sponsor of SB 1448. 1st, we'd like to thank the author for her leadership on behalf of small family farmers and work on land equity.

We would also like to thank the chair and the Committee staff for their work on this Bill. Finally, we'd like to thank the majority leader for her leadership creating the agricultural Land Equity Task Force two years ago.

This Bill aims to address two of the biggest challenges, small beginning and historically underserved family farmers face the access to land and market infrastructure. SB 1448 takes important steps to support the implementation of the farm Community Food hub program and the Agricultural Land Equity Task Force.

We are very happy to see that the budget the Legislature will adopt reverses the governor's proposed cuts to the farm to community food hub program.

And we believe the streamlining proposed in SB 1448 to the Advisory Committee will help CDFA hit the ground running to implement this important program, which will create new food hubs to support small family farms and provide locally produced food to food banks, schools and others in our community.

Finally, the Bill authorizes the agricultural Land Equity Task Force to provide stipends to public Members at levels that compare to what other agencies do. Often, small family farmers don't have the resources to be able to participate in state task forces without compensation. SB 1448 will ensure robust participation in this important task force.

For all these reasons, CAF is proud to sponsor SB 1448. Energies your I vote. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members. My name is Beth Smoker. I'm the policy Director at the California Food and Farming Network. We have 50 Member organizations across diverse food system sectors such as anti hunger, sustainable agriculture, farm worker, local economies.

We're accountable to a steering council of grassroots leaders at the front line of food system injustices, and I'm here to testify in support of SB 1448. Our network believes that strong regional food and farming economies are needed in order to advance justice and Ecui throughout the food system.

This was clearly demonstrated during the pandemic when national and global supply chains broke down and regional food system systems stepped in to try and respond. But these regional food systems need our support. We're losing over 1500 small farms a year, and the challenges facing small farmers are overwhelming and make the simple act of growing food almost impossible.

The realities of the climate crisis and disinvestment in local food supply chains disproportionately affect California's small and local food producers. Meanwhile, the cost of land continues to rise, consolidation continues to increase, and the unfortunate reality is that it's not only challenging for small farmers to keep farming, but it's impossible to enter into this industry.

Both food system infrastructure, such as community food hubs, and access to agricultural land for small farmers are two key components for building up our regional farming systems. Fortunately, the state has programs striving to work on both of these issues.

In 2021, as my colleague mentioned, CAF worked with the Legislator to pass AB 1009, which created the farm to community food hubs program to address gaps in supply chain infrastructure. And unfortunately, though, due to administrative challenges, that program has yet to be stood up.

The following year, our network was part of a coalition that advanced the establishment of the Agland Equity Task Force to develop meaningful policy solutions to to address the challenges around land access in California. And while this task force is fully formed, it also needs legislative reform to meet its full potential.

SB 1448 addresses both of these challenges and puts the state on the right track to addressing supply chain needs and land crisis for small farmers. For all these reasons, the California Food and Farming Network, respectively asks for your. I vote.

Thank you both for your testimony. Is there any one in opposition here? Great. At this time, we will open it up for public comment. Do we have Members of the audience that would like to register their supporter opposition of the bill? Please state your name and whether your organization, whether you support or oppose.

Rebecca Marcus, on behalf of the California Certified Organic Farmers, California Climate and Agriculture Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Carbon Cycle Institute, all in support. Thank you.

Seeing no one else, do we have any Members of the Committee that have any questions or comments? We have a motion and a second. Senator Hurtado, would you like to close on your bill?

Thank you, Madam Chair, I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Great. So the motion on the bill is do passed to Appropriations Committee? There is a motion in a second. Madam Secretary, if you could please call the roll on SB 1448.

[Roll Call]

Would so we have a vote right now of five Members. We will leave it on call until the other Members join the Committee. Thank you. Thank you. So right now, we will dispose of our consent calendar. So, Members, there are three bills proposed for today's consent calendar.

File item four SB 1117 by Laird, file item five, SB 1186 by Senator Ochoa Bogue, and file item seven, SB 1522, also by the Senate Act Committee. Are there any questions, concerns from members of the Committee? Seeing none. There is a motion to approve the consent calendar. Is there a second? There is a second.

Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

On the consent calendar. All bills are do passed to Appropriations. [Roll Call]

With six votes, the consent calendar is approved. Now we'll welcome our next Senator presenting file item one.

Respectfully welcome, Senator Grove.

Looks like our Committee Members are eager to support the bill. We'll proceed with file item number one, Senate Bill 1270 by Senator Grove. Senator, please proceed with the bill when you're ready.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you. I'm here to present SB 1270, which modernizes the structure, the fee structure, for the California Department Food and Agriculture Market Enforcement Branch so that the branch can meet current operational costs.

The CDFA Market Enforcement branch provides several services to farmers throughout the State of California, including conducting investigations filed by growers and licensees, verifying the accuracy of transactions, and also conducting overall sweeps of volume checks, and educating the industry on licensing requirements and branch services. It's 100% industry funded.

The branch is supported by the agricultural industry protections, and they cover about $40 billion of California's agricultural commodities. The branch is, like I said, 100% industry funded. SB 1270 would modernize the fee structure and the market enforcement branch, updating the license application fees and revising complaint fees on a tiered basis based on the volume of the complaint.

With me here today to testify in support of SB 1270 is Christopher Reardon, on behalf of the California Farm Bureau.

Madam Chair Members. Chris Reardon, California Farm Bureau. I'm here in support of the California Department of Food and AG's Market Enforcement program. Proposed fee structure. California's agricultural economy is not only vital to our state's economy, but also the nation's food food security.

CDFA's market enforcement program serves as a vital safeguard protecting both producers and consumers from fraudulent practices, unfair competition, and market manipulation. By diligently enforcing laws and regulations, the program upholds a level playing field, fostering trust and reliability within the agricultural community.

Its efforts to investigate complaints, monitor compliance, and take enforcement actions against violators help maintain market stability and ensure that all participants, regardless of size and influence, adhere to ethical standards. This commitment to fairness is essential to the long term sustainability and growth of California's agricultural industry.

This proactive approach not only prevents potential issues, but also cultivates a culture of compliance and accountability amongst all industry participants. We think this is an important measure and would urge your support this legislation.

Thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone in opposition to the bill? Seeing none. Is there anyone else in the public that would love to show their support or opposition to the bill? Seeing none. Members. So we do, I believe, now have had a motion early and a second. Senator Grove, would you like to close on your.

Just respectfully asked for an aye vote. I represent the top three food producing counties in the world. There are six top food producing counties in the world here in California, and we need to make sure that we protect the commodities that we grow.

And CDFA is very much in support of this bill, although they can't really be here publicly to testify when you look at an administrative issue. But the Farm Bureau and others are also in support and respect. We ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. So, the motion on the bill is to pass to appropriations. Madam Secretary, please call the roll

On SB 1270 Grove

It does go to a probes. There's no expenditure. That was curious procedure. I don't know. I just thought I'd ask. It's. Yeah, it's one for us. It was a street fiscal, okay. Because it's 100% industry funded. Okay. Like, there's no taxpayer dollars. It's paid based on fees for the agricultural institutions.

Then that will be the argument to be made to Assembly appropriate. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

On SB 1270, Grove motion do pass to Appropriations. [Roll Call]

With a vote of 7-0, Senate Bill 1270 is out of Committee. Thank you. And we will hold the roll call open for other absent Members. So, we have SB 1419. That was heard during the. When we were a Subcommitee, so we weren't able to take a motion or a second. So we do have now a motion and a second for SB 1419. Madam Secretary, can you please call a roll.

[Roll Call]

The Bill has eight votes. It gets out of Committee. We'll leave it open for. Do we have any other Members or would see if assemblymember Wood makes it to add on. We will dispense or go through the bills again for those absent Members. Madam Secretary, if you call the roll starting from the beginning on SB 1367, Hurtado.

[Roll Call]

So SB 1367 has seven votes. We will leave it open for additional absent Members that will join us to add on and on SB 1448 Hurtado

[Roll Call]

SB 1448 has six votes. It will be out, but we will leave it open for Members that are absent and on the consent calendar.

[Roll Call]

On the consent calendar, there are eight votes. We will also wait. I believe Assemblymember Wood is the only one left to add on. Thank you. Thank you, Members, for being here. oh, yes. We forgot that one. Should I tell. Are you calling? That was quick. Good job, team. Good job, team. It so looks like we will be adjourning the meeting at 212. Thank you for attending.