Bill Text: CA AB2324 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Certified farmers' markets.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 384, Statutes of 2016. [AB2324 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2324-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2324 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 384
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 17, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 23, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eggman
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
An act to amend Sections 47000.5 and 47001 of, and to add Section
47005.4 to, the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to certified
farmers' markets.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2324, Eggman. Certified farmers' markets.
Existing law provides for the regulation of certified farmers'
markets and authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to adopt
regulations to encourage the direct sale by farmers to the public of
all types of California agricultural products.
This bill would specify the Legislature's intent that the
secretary, in adopting those regulations, endeavor to keep costs
incurred by farmers and certified farmers' market operators at a
minimum, would authorize the secretary to adopt regulations
clarifying the certified farmers' market provisions, and would revise
the term "agricultural product" for purposes of the certified
farmers' market provisions to include raw sheared wool. The bill
would also add a provision specifying that nothing in the certified
farmers' market provisions shall be interpreted to preclude a
certified farmers' market operator from creating and keeping
additional information or requiring a vendor to provide additional
information, as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 47000.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:
47000.5. The following definitions apply to this chapter, unless
otherwise specified:
(a) (1) "Agricultural product" means a fresh or processed product
produced in California, including fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs,
mushrooms, dairy, shell eggs, honey, pollen, unprocessed bees wax,
propolis, royal jelly, flowers, grains, nursery stock, raw sheared
wool, livestock meats, poultry meats, rabbit meats, and fish,
including shellfish that is produced under controlled conditions in
waters located in California.
(2) Products that are characterized as services, arts, crafts,
bakery, candies, soaps, balms, perfumes, cosmetics, pottery,
clothing, fabrics, pastas, compost, fertilizers, candles, ceramics,
foraged foods, and types of wares are not agricultural products for
purposes of this chapter. A product that combines an agricultural
product with a nonagricultural product or service in a manner that
materially increases the purchase price of the product shall
disqualify the product from being sold as an agricultural product for
purposes of this chapter.
(b) "Practice of the agricultural arts" means the undertaking of
being predominantly responsible for the decisions and actions
encompassing the various phases of producing an agricultural product.
The practice of the agricultural arts for fruit, floral, nut,
vegetable, and other plant products includes directive or actual
responsibility for all the actions of planting, growing, fertilizing,
irrigating, cultivating, pest control, and harvesting. The practice
of the agricultural arts for agricultural animal products includes
directive or actual responsibility for a substantial time of the
raising, feeding, veterinary care, and product harvesting.
(c) "Producer" means a person, partnership, corporation, or an
otherwise legally formed farm or ranch that produces agricultural
products by the practice of the agricultural arts upon land that the
person or entity owns, rents, leases, sharecrops, or otherwise
controls and has the documented legal right to possession. A person
or entity that rents, leases, or otherwise acquires the right to
possession of property essentially only for or limited to the period
of the harvest season of the agricultural products produced on that
property shall not be considered a producer under the provisions of
this chapter.
SEC. 2. Section 47001 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended
to read:
47001. (a) The secretary may adopt regulations to encourage the
direct sale by farmers to the public of all types of California
agricultural products. It is the intent of the Legislature that, in
adopting those regulations, the secretary shall endeavor to keep
costs incurred by farmers and certified farmers' market operators to
a minimum, recognizing that any administrative costs imposed on
farmers and certified farmers' market operators are generally passed
on in the form of increased prices to the public, thus economically
benefiting neither the public nor the farmer.
(b) In accordance with the intent expressed in subdivision (a),
the secretary may adopt regulations clarifying the provisions of this
chapter, including the adoption of regulations for maintaining the
quality and wholesomeness of the products offered for sale and
promoting and fostering honest selling activities for those products.
(c) The secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with a
county agricultural commissioner to carry out the provisions of this
chapter, including, but not limited to, administration,
investigations, inspections, registrations, and assistance pertaining
to direct marketing producers and outlets. Compensation under the
cooperative agreement shall be paid from assessments and fees
collected and deposited pursuant to this chapter and shall provide
reimbursement to the county agricultural commissioner for associated
costs exclusive of the costs of certification and minimum inspections
required pursuant to Section 47020.
(d) Upon reasonable suspicion of a violation of Section 890, a
certified farmers' market operator may contract with a county
agricultural commissioner for a special onsite field or storage
verification inspection of a direct marketing producer selling in a
certified farmers' market operated and controlled by the operator.
All contracts and contract fees are subject to the discretion of the
county agricultural commissioner in the county where the verification
inspections are being requested.
SEC. 3. Section 47005.4 is added to the Food and Agricultural
Code, to read:
47005.4. Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to preclude
the creation and keeping of additional information that a certified
farmers' market operator may endeavor itself to create and keep, or
to contractually require a vendor to provide additional information
as a condition to selling in the operator's farmers' market.
