Bill Text: CA AB1961 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Land use: planning: sustainable farmland strategy.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-23 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB1961 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1961-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1961 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 25, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eggman
(Principal coauthor: Senator Wolk)
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Section 65040.15 to, and to add Article 10
(commencing with Section 65550) to Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7
of, the Government Code, relating to land use.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1961, as amended, Eggman. Land use: planning: sustainable
farmland strategy.
(1) Existing law requires the legislative body of each county and
city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the
physical development of the county or city with specified elements,
including, among others, a land use element that designates the
proposed general distribution and general location and extent of the
uses of the land for housing, business, industry, open space,
including agriculture, natural resources, recreation, and enjoyment
of scenic beauty, education, public buildings and grounds, solid and
liquid waste disposal facilities, and other categories of public and
private uses of land. Existing law authorizes a local agency to
charge fees for the funding of purposes that include the preparation
and revision of land use plans and policies.
This bill would require each county to also develop, on or before
January 2, 2018, a sustainable farmland strategy. The bill would
require the sustainable farmland strategy to include, among other
things, a map and inventory of all agriculturally zoned land within
the county, a description of the goals, strategies, and related
policies and ordinances, to retain agriculturally zoned land where
practical and mitigate the loss of agriculturally zoned land to
nonagricultural uses or zones, and a page on the county's Internet
Web site with the relevant documentation for the goals, strategies,
and related policies and ordinances, as specified. The bill would
exempt any county with less than 4% of its land use base in
agriculture, as specified. By increasing the duties of local
officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law establishes in the Office of the Governor the
Office of Planning and Research with duties that include developing
and adopting guidelines for the preparation of and content of
mandatory elements required in city and county general plans.
This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, when
it adopts its next edition of general plan guidelines, to include
best practices that support agricultural land retention and
mitigation, as specified.
(3) 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 no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California is the nation's leader in food production and
contributes significantly to our food security.
(b) California agricultural production depends on soil, water, and
climate conditions found in one of only five Mediterranean growing
regions on Earth.
(c) California agriculture is vulnerable to the impacts of global
warming, including constrained water resources, increases in extreme
weather events, and rising sea levels.
(d) California agriculture is also positioned to provide climate
benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Research funded by the
California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research
(PIER) program found that an acre of urban land emits 70 times more
greenhouse gas emissions than an acre of irrigated crop land.
(e) California's growing population places additional demands on
both our food supply and on the development of agricultural land for
nonagricultural purposes. Over the past 30 years, an average of
approximately 30,000 acres of California agricultural land is
permanently converted to nonagricultural uses annually.
(f) The conservation of a maximum amount of the limited supply of
California's agricultural land is necessary for the maintenance of
the agricultural economy of the state, climate change mitigation,
enhancement of the state's natural resources and the assurance of an
adequate, healthy and nutritious food supply for the residents of
this state and nation.
(g) California's statewide land use planning priorities include
the goal of protecting, preserving, and enhancing the state's most
valuable natural resources, including working landscapes such as
farm, range, and forest lands.
(h) Counties have jurisdiction over the majority of the state's
agricultural land and play a vital role in regulating the use of
land, including the conservation of agricultural lands through
appropriate zoning and planning activities, as well as determinations
of the potential environmental impacts of proposed land use changes.
When farmland is converted to nonagricultural uses, agricultural
conservation easements can constitute feasible mitigation to lessen
impacts on local and regional agricultural resources.
(i) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that counties
recognize that farmland is a limited and valuable resource which must
be conserved wherever possible. It is also the intent of the
Legislature to ensure that counties with significant agricultural
land resources prepare and carry out a sustainable farmland strategy,
which along with state and regional programs, will protect,
preserve, and enhance the state's agricultural lands.
(j) Certain actions by lead agencies, including those to protect
natural resources and the environment, have been identified by the
Office of Planning and Research as classes of projects that do not
have a significant effect on the environment, and are therefore not
subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. The adoption of
a sustainable farmland strategy would could
be considered to be an action to protect natural resources or
the environment.
SEC. 2. Section 65040.15 is added to the Government Code, to read:
65040.15. The Office of Planning and Research, when it adopts its
next edition of general plan guidelines pursuant to Section 65040.2,
shall include best practices that support agricultural land
retention and mitigation, including, but not limited to, the
following:
(a) Right to farm ordinances with real estate disclosure.
(b) Farmland mitigation ordinances.
(c) Conservation easement purchase programs.
(d) Economic incentives to promote local agriculture.
(e) Use of zoning to prevent nuisances and land use conflicts, and
to promote commercial agriculture by limiting parcelization of
agricultural lands.
(f) Urban growth boundaries in coordination with incorporated
jurisdictions.
(g) Locally adopted thresholds of significance for California
Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section
21000) of the Public Resources Code) review for conservation of
grazing lands and farmland of local importance, in addition to
existing thresholds for conversion of prime farmland, unique
farmland, and farmland of statewide importance.
SEC. 3. Article 10 (commencing with Section 65550) is added to
Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, to read:
Article 10. Sustainable Farmland Strategy
65550. For the purposes of this article, the term "agriculturally
zoned land" means land that is determined by a county to be
designated in agriculture as the primary purpose or use of the zone.
65551. (a) The board of supervisors of any county other than a
county described in subdivision (e), shall develop a sustainable
farmland strategy.
(b) (1) The sustainable farmland strategy shall include all of the
following:
(A) A map and inventory of all agriculturally zoned lands within
the county as of February 21, 2014. A county may use the county-level
maps of agricultural land developed by the Farmland Mapping and
Monitoring Program of the Department of Conservation, general plan
maps, or other available local and state maps and resources.
(B) A description of the goals, strategies, and related policies
and ordinances to retain agriculturally zoned land, where practical,
and mitigate the loss of agriculturally zoned lands to
nonagricultural uses or nonagricultural zones.
(C) A page on the county's Internet Web site that assembles all of
the relevant documentation for the goals, strategies and related
policies, and ordinances, as described in subparagraphs (A) and (B),
as well as reporting on the manner of compliance with this article as
required by subdivision (f). The board of supervisors shall also
include, on the Internet Web site, a table and map showing the
location of lands enrolled in the California Land Conservation Act of
1965, also known as the Williamson Act (Article 1 (commencing with
Section 51200) of Chapter 7 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 5).
(2) The board of supervisors of each county shall consult with the
cities located within county boundaries and the local
agency formation commission and the cities within county
boundaries on the development of the sustainable farmland
strategy for that county to ensure that the plans and
policies of the cities and the local agency formation commission are
taken into consideration and are compatible promote
compatibility of the sustainable farmland strategy with the plans and
policies of the cities and local agency formation
commission, including adopted spheres of influence and municipal
service reviews .
(c) A county may comply with this article by relying on existing
inventories and maps of agricultural lands, and existing goals,
strategies, and related policies and ordinances that substantially
comply with subdivision (b). Any county complying under this
subdivision shall summarize and incorporate by reference on the
county's Internet Web site a description of how each requirement of
this subdivision has been met.
(d) The board of supervisors shall update the sustainable farmland
strategy as determined to be necessary by the board of supervisors.
(e) Any county with less than 4 percent of its land base in
agriculture, as determined by the most recent Census of Agriculture
by the United States Department of Agriculture, is exempt from this
article.
(f) On or before January 1, 2018, each county shall affirm
compliance with this article by one of the following means:
(1) Developing and adopting a sustainable farmland strategy
consistent with subdivision (b).
(2) Adopting a resolution finding
determining that the existing county goals, policies ,
and ordinances have a functionally equivalent strategy that
meets the requirements of subdivision (b), pursuant to subdivision
(c).
(3) Adopting a resolution finding
determining that the county's agricultural land resources do
not meet the threshold described in subdivision (e), and that the
county is not required to develop a sustainable farmland strategy.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.
