(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture and requires it to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state.
This bill would establish the Growth Council Initiative, with a prescribed membership of specified state agencies and public members, to plan for regulatory alignments that would aid grower compliance, reduce costs to the agriculture industry, and protect the environment and to make recommendations for regulatory alignments to the proper agency or department.
This bill would require the department to create a user-friendly navigational link on its Internet Web site that provides farmers and other members of the agricultural industry comprehensive information about regulatory requirements of, and guidance to, operating and managing a
farm.
This bill would require the department to encourage community college districts, California state universities, the University of California, and state and county fairgrounds to establish and maintain smart farms, as described by the bill, on the respective campuses or fairgrounds to provide regional agricultural businesses the opportunity show up-to-date agricultural technology, as defined by the bill, in real world practice.
(2) Existing law provides for a department of agriculture in each county and for the appointment of a county agricultural commissioner. The commissioner has several duties including making an annual report to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture on the condition of agriculture in his or her county, attending the annual meeting of the California Agricultural Commissioners Association, and consulting with staff members of various federal departments.
This bill would require the commissioner, in completing the annual report, to also conduct a survey of Internet accessibility on farms and in rural communities in his or her county to identify gaps in Internet accessibility on farms that create hurdles to the adoption of agricultural technology. By creating additional duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state.
This bill would require the Board of Governors to develop a model Agricultural Business and Technology Program or similar program that may be adopted by the community college districts and offered to its students, as specified.
(4) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws.
This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, in an amount, not to exceed an unspecified limit, that is otherwise equal to ____% of the amount paid or incurred for agricultural technology deployed for at least 3 consecutive months during the taxable year. The bill would establish the Agriculture Technology Innovation Institute within the Department of Food and Agriculture to, among other things, administer these credits.
(5) Existing law creates the Employment Development Department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which is vested with the duties, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction regarding job creation activities.
This bill would require the Legislature, in the annual Budget Act, to appropriate moneys to the Labor Market Information Division within the Employment Development Department for the purpose of performing agricultural industry statistic analysis and examining the economic impact and employment effect the agricultural industry has on the state.
(6) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(7) This bill would make an unspecified appropriation from the General fund for the purposes of agriculture, to be allocated as provided.