Bill Text: CA AB1961 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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 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 MARCH 25, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eggman
(Principal coauthor: Senator Wolk)
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to amend Section 56668 of, 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, and to add
Section 65040.15 to, the Government Code, relating to land
use.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1961, as amended, Eggman. Land use: planning:
Sustainable Farmland Strategy. 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 with significant agricultural
land resources, as defined, to also develop, on or before January 2,
2018, a sustainable farmland strategy. The bill would require the
Sustainable Farmland Strategy 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) Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government
Reorganization Act of 2000, provides the authority and procedures for
the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization
and reorganization of cities and districts. The act requires the
local agency formation commission to consider various factors in a
petition for a change of organization or reorganization, including,
among others, the effect of the proposal on maintaining the physical
and economic integrity of agricultural lands.
This bill would additionally require the local agency formation
commission to consider a sustainable farmland strategy, if one has
been developed. By increasing the duties of local officials, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3)
(4) 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 assure 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 assure that counties with significant agricultural
land resources prepare and carry out a Sustainable Farmland
Strategy sustainable farmland strategy , which
along with state and regional programs, will protect, preserve, and
enhance the state's agricultural lands.
(j) Certain actions by local 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 be considered to be an action
to protect natural resources or the environment.
SEC. 2 . Section 56668
of the Government Code is amended to
read:
56668. Factors to be considered in the review of a proposal shall
include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(a) Population and population density; land area and land use; per
capita assessed valuation; topography, natural boundaries, and
drainage basins; proximity to other populated areas; the likelihood
of significant growth in the area, and in adjacent incorporated and
unincorporated areas, during the next 10 years.
(b) The need for organized community services; the present cost
and adequacy of governmental services and controls in the area;
probable future needs for those services and controls; probable
effect of the proposed incorporation, formation, annexation, or
exclusion and of alternative courses of action on the cost and
adequacy of services and controls in the area and adjacent areas.
"Services," as used in this subdivision, refers to governmental
services whether or not the services are services which would be
provided by local agencies subject to this division, and includes the
public facilities necessary to provide those services.
(c) The effect of the proposed action and of alternative actions,
on adjacent areas, on mutual social and economic interests, and on
the local governmental structure of the county.
(d) The conformity of both the proposal and its anticipated
effects with both the adopted commission policies on providing
planned, orderly, efficient patterns of urban development, and the
policies and priorities in Section 56377.
(e) The effect of the proposal on maintaining the physical and
economic integrity of agricultural lands, as defined by Section
56016.
(f) The definiteness and certainty of the boundaries of the
territory, the nonconformance of proposed boundaries with lines of
assessment or ownership, the creation of islands or corridors of
unincorporated territory, and other similar matters affecting the
proposed boundaries.
(g) A regional transportation plan adopted pursuant to Section
65080, and its consistency with city or county general and specific
plans.
(h) The sphere of influence of any local agency which may be
applicable to the proposal being reviewed.
(i) The comments of any affected local agency or other public
agency.
(j) The ability of the newly formed or receiving entity to provide
the services which are the subject of the application to the area,
including the sufficiency of revenues for those services following
the proposed boundary change.
(k) Timely availability of water supplies adequate for projected
needs as specified in Section 65352.5.
( l ) The extent to which the proposal will affect a
city or cities and the county in achieving their respective fair
shares of the regional housing needs as determined by the appropriate
council of governments consistent with Article 10.6 (commencing with
Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7.
(m) Any information or comments from the landowner or owners,
voters, or residents of the affected territory.
(n) Any information relating to existing land use designations.
(o) The extent to which the proposal will promote environmental
justice. As used in this subdivision, "environmental justice" means
the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with
respect to the location of public facilities and the provision of
public services.
(p) A sustainable farmland strategy, if one has been developed
pursuant to Section 65551.
SEC. 3. Section 65040.15 is added to the
Government Code , to read:
65040.15. (a) 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:
(1) Right to farm ordinances with real estate disclosure.
(2) Farmland mitigation ordinances.
(3) Conservation easement purchase programs.
(4) Economic incentives to promote local agriculture.
(5) Use of zoning to prevent nuisances and land use conflicts, and
to promote commercial agriculture by limiting parcelization of
agricultural lands.
(6) Urban growth boundaries in coordination with incorporated
jurisdictions.
(7) 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.
(b) The Office of Planning and Research shall include in their
next update of the General Plan Guidelines recommendations on the
role of local agency formation commissions in the preservation of
agriculturally zoned lands when considering annexations of
agriculturally zoned lands into cities and service extensions onto
agriculturally zoned lands.
SEC. 2. SEC. 4. 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 sustainable farmland
strategy .
(b) (1) The Sustainable Farmland Strategy
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 governments of cities located within their
boundaries, and with their local agency formation commission, on the
development of the sustainable farmland strategy for that county to
assure that the plans and policies of the cities and local agency
formation commission are taken into consideration and are compatible
to the maximum extent feasible.
(c) A county may comply with the requirements of 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 the provisions of 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 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 sustainable farmland strategy
consistent with subdivision (b).
(2) Adopting a resolution finding 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 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. 3. Section 65040.15 is added to the
Government Code, to read:
65040.15. (a) 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:
(1) Right to farm ordinances with real estate disclosure.
(2) Farmland mitigation ordinances.
(3) Conservation easement purchase programs.
(4) Economic incentives to promote local agriculture.
(5) Use of zoning to prevent nuisances and land use conflicts, and
to promote commercial agriculture by limiting parcelization of
agricultural lands.
(6) Urban growth boundaries in coordination with incorporated
jurisdictions.
(7) 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.
(b) The Office of Planning and Research shall include in their
next update of the General Plan Guidelines recommendations on the
role of local agency formation commissions in the preservation of
agriculturally zoned lands when considering annexations of
agriculturally zoned lands into cities and service extensions onto
agriculturally zoned lands.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. 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.
