Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture

[Roll Call].

Okay, a quorum has been established. We'll go ahead and move with file item number one, AB 20113 by Assemblymember Garcia. Can you please come up and present whenever you're ready?

Good morning, Madam Chair and colleagues of the senate. Thank you so much for agendizing this important matter. AB 2113 makes changes to the mill assessment as well as other policy changes under the Department of Pesticide Regulation.

We introduced this bill to give the legislature an opportunity through the policy committee process to hear from stakeholders and make further enhancements and refinements to the governor's proposal to address issues raised by stakeholders in the legislature. Since the spill was last heard in Committee, there has been an agreement reached between the Assembly, Senate and the Governor's office.

This bill has been negotiated in the same timeline as the budget as this is implementing language that was proposed by the Governor as a trailer bill. In its language, the recent amendments strike a compromise, and in a compromise, there is a give and take.

As you all are aware, here are some of the highlights of that particular compromise. One requires the department to complete the registration of pesticides within a specified timeframe beginning in 2027.

It removes the authority of the department to raise the meal assessment in the future and requires the department to initiate an additional reevaluation of a pesticide a year until 2029 and then initiate an additional two reevaluations of a pesticide year per year raises the mill fee incrementally over four years to a maximum of 30 mils.

The bill has several provisions of added transparency, requiring the department to post certain information, such as timelines of pesticide registration or the estimated timeline of completing certain reevaluations on its website.

Additionally, as has added accountability, the bill requires the director of the department to appear before the respective legislative policy committees of the assembly and the senate no less than at least once every two years. The department hasn't had a fee increase in almost two decades.

I think it's important to have a properly resourced department that is well positioned to better carry out its mission. For those reasons, I respectfully ask for your aye vote and getting off script a little bit here, I just wanted to share with you that it's important to acknowledge the work of all of the people who were involved in these conversations. And its typically people that are not usually on the same page when it comes to not just interests, not just constituencies.

But I think this issue brought them all together with one common goal, identifying that there was a need to both reform the department and that their additional resources were needed to ensure that the mission of this agency is fully accomplished.

And along the way, I think it was identified and discovered that there is a lot in common as it pertains to the constituencies that we're all trying to serve and, in many instances, also protect. And so I wanted just to commend all of those individuals who came together to strike that compromise.

And I'm glad that we were able to be part of those conversations and just wanted to acknowledge the work of the gentleman to my right and his team in our committee for putting this work together.

With that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote, and I would imagine there are a number of folks that will be stepping up to say a few words as well. Thank you again.

Thank you. Assemblymember Garcia. At this point, we'll take others in support of this measure here in room 113. Please come up and state your name, organization, and position. Okay, seeing none, we'll move to any lead opposition on this measure.

Seeing none, is there others that would like to state their opposition to this measure here in room 113? Please come up and state your name, organization and your position.

Good morning, Chair and members: Nicole Quinonez, on behalf of the Household and Commercial Products Association, actually neutral on the bill, but wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Assemblymember, the senate, the assembly, and the administration for what is in principle today and just highlight a few points that the Assembly Member also mentioned for my client, we represent the nonagricultural manufacturers of pesticides, and the non ag sector contributes about half of the total mill assessment that the department uses to carry out their duties.

So, we have, through this process, advocated for the inclusion of registration timelines for our pesticide products. So, we're very happy to see those included in the legislation.

We also appreciate the transparency measures that are included, and we think those will be very important for the legislature in the years to come as they try to determine whether these resources have actually resulted in better services.

And then finally really appreciate the removal of the authority that would have given the department the ability to raise these taxes in out years and which was originally proposed but is not in 2113 today, as we believe that's a really important place for the Legislature to have these debates in future years if they need additional resources. So thank you so much.

Madam Chair, members of the committee: Louis Brown here today on behalf of, and I'm going to actually read the list so that you understand the diversity of clients that we have that have been focused on this issue.

American Pistachio Growers, California Citrus Mutual, California Cotton Growers Ginners Association, California Fresh Fruit Association, California Tomato Growers Association, CropLife America, Western Plant Health Association, Nisei Farmers League, the California Walnut Commission, California Strawberry Commission. We're all neutral on this bill. We started in opposed, we moved to opposed unless amended. We moved to neutral with concerns.

Today we are neutral on the bill and want to express our appreciation to the author, the Governor's office, your staff, the assembly staff, for really bringing stakeholders together. This was not a typical budget trailer bill.

And I appreciate the leadership of Mister Garcia of saying we want this subject matter to be discussed in a policy bill because it is substantive policy that also impacts the budget. But at the end of the day, we agree that the department needs additional revenues. With those revenues though, comes the accountability.

And so, as Nicole just stated, there were some core principles that we had going into this negotiation. One was that the mill be capped in statute and that was held. And therefore, in another four years this legislature will have the ability to come back and evaluate whether or not those budgetary resources of the department are adequate.

We also wanted transparency and accountability. We are held under much different standards in California agriculture than the rest of the nation. After a product is registered at federal EPA, it must come back to the California before it can be registered here.

Today, on average, it takes more than six years to get a product through the registration process in California. That's completely unacceptable, and it just creates a disadvantage for our growers in the state because we are not getting the same access to the new chemicals, the sustainable products that other growers and commodities in the country have access to.

So, the registration timelines in the bill, the accountability measures, the annual reporting, absolutely critical so that we can assess whether or not we're getting the return on investment that comes with the increase for their budgetary authority. So, with that, we really appreciate the work of everyone involved and encourage an aye vote today. Thank you.

Madam Chair and members: Chris Reardon, California Farm Bureau; we also have removed our opposition and move to neutral. I also wanted to thank Mister Garcia and Josh for their involvement over the last few months in terms of sort of getting, I think where we are today. And while, Mister Garcia, while not perfect and surely, we still have some concerns with the bill, we believe generally that, I think it's moving in the right direction. It's something that we can work with. And we as well, think the Department needs to be funded appropriately, adequately, and meet their requirements under law.

So, again, we're happy to be part of this conversation the last few months, and again, appreciate it.

Madam Chair and members, John Norwood on behalf of the Almond Alliance, the California Pool and Spa Association. For the Almond Alliance, we appreciate the dialogue and look forward to seeing this bill move forward with, with regard to CPSA, who actually support the bill. Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Chair, members. Tricia Geringer with Agricultural Council of California also removing opposition. Really appreciate the Chair and his staff and also the committee for all the work. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else here in room 113? See none. Okay. I'm going to bring it back to you, the committee, and see if there's any questions or comments from committee members? Okay. We have a motion.

I wanted to just go ahead and ask for clarification if under Section One, the findings and declarations are those, I know they're under findings and declarations, but are they going to be codified or they become law, or? Can you give me a little bit of just clarification on the declarations and findings?

I'm told they're not codified. They are described findings and declarations.

Okay, great. All right. Well, with that, thank you for answering the question. Look, there is no doubt that people of color and low-income communities are the hardest hit by climate change. That means that these same communities are the, are also the most impacted by pesticide use.

The challenges posed by climate change and pesticide use to human and environmental health are not the same that they were a decade ago. Climate change is exacerbating the pests on the food that we grow, and with time, these pests can become and are becoming more resistant. Climate change is also exacerbating pests at home.

It's increasing pest at commercial locations like restaurants, hotels, and I know that some of you might remember the bedbug outbreak of 2023. I surely do. These pest issues really target low-income communities of color. And, yes, 90% of pesticide use is in agriculture.

But the rest of the places we don't always want to think about, or we don't always think about those other places that impact us as well. Pests are a concern for our health and our wellbeing. They are a concern for the health and wellbeing of the nutritious food that we need to survive.

And pesticide use helps eradicate or should help eradicate these pest issues. But without adequate oversight or regulation, the harms of pesticide use could outweigh the benefits. And no one wants that.

Today, we have to be more alert, concerned and proactive about counterfeit legal products, products that are banned and smuggled into California for any kind of use, as some of us had learned from a recent LA Times article on the use of banned pesticides on legal weed.

With that, I believe there is great opportunity to do better, and this legislation is a step in the right direction. I appreciate all the work of all the stakeholders, but especially of the author, for the work that he is, that he has done for bringing the stakeholders together.

And to get to this point and just once again want to commend you for the work that you've done. And with that, I will ask the assistant to - oh, would you like to close?

Thank you for scanning this item. A lot of work went into putting this measure forward. I want to just acknowledge the work of the stakeholders, their patience, their commitment, and the work of our committees, both your committee, Josh, and the rest of the team there. Thank you again and respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Assistant, can you please call the roll?

File, item one, AB 2113 by Assemblymember Garcia. The motion is do pass to Appropriation. [Roll Call].

Okay, the vote is 4-0 and the bill is on call just to allow other members of the committee the opportunity to vote. Thank you so much. And we will take a short recession. Okay, we are back. We are going to do a final vote roll call on this measure.

And Assistant, if you could please do the roll call. Final roll call.

[Roll Call].

The vote is 4-0 and that bill is out. Congratulations.