Bill Text: CA AJR21 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Joint Resolution 21 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Dairy industry.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-07-02 - From printer. [AJR21 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AJR21-Introduced.html

BILL NUMBER: AJR 21	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gilmore

                        JULY 1, 2009

   Relative to the Dairy Industry.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 21, as introduced, Gilmore. Dairy industry.
   This measure would encourage the President, the Congress, and the
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to acknowledge the
importance of the dairy industry nationwide as well as the unique
aspects of the dairy industry region by region by enacting
legislation or regulations that update the federal dairy product
price support program to reflect today's cost of production,
implement fair tariffs on unregulated imported dairy solids, mandate
greater market transparency, and support a milk supply management
program.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, California has been the nation's leading dairy state
since 1993 and is ranked first in the U.S. in the production of total
dairy product, butter, ice cream, yogurt, nonfat dry dairy product,
and whey protein concentrate and is second in cheese production; and
   WHEREAS, Dairy products are the leading agricultural commodity in
California generating approximately $7 billion in revenue last year;
and
   WHEREAS, The California dairy industry generated more than $61
billion in economic activity and more than 434,000 full-time jobs
last year; and
   WHEREAS, The California dairy industry provided an economic impact
of more than $30,000 per cow last year, primarily in local
economies; and
   WHEREAS, The absence of profitable prices in the dairy industry
for farmers, the lack of competition in dairy product processing
ownership, as well as an outdated price support program are causing
an economic crisis among California dairy producers; and
   WHEREAS, Since last year, the price that dairy farmers were paid
for their dairy product has dropped as much as 50 percent; and
   WHEREAS, The primary safety-net for California dairy producers is
the federal dairy product price support program of $9.90 per cwt; and

   WHEREAS, The federal dairy product price support program does not
adequately provide a safety net due to the fact that it reflects
production costs from 30 years ago; and
   WHEREAS, The federal government in 2006 implemented an ethanol
policy mandate that has increased all feed costs to dairy producers
in California; and
   WHEREAS, The federal dairy product price support program does not
account for this new federal energy mandate; and
   WHEREAS, The federal dairy product price support program needs to
be at an adequate level to ensure California dairy producers have a
viable, competitive and stable market; and
   WHEREAS, The federal dairy product price support program should
maintain market prices near average operating costs in order to be
successful. This will ensure that efficient producers are able to
stay in business until prices recover; however, few efficient
producers will have the protection at the current price support
level; and
   WHEREAS, California dairy product prices are set by the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange (CME) cash cheese exchange which, according to a
June 2007 General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the CME, is
thinly traded and not a very competitive market, and which lacks
transparency and is not an appropriate price discovery mechanism; and

   WHEREAS, The loss of a domestic supply of dairy products will
jeopardize the security of our nation by causing dependence on
foreign sources of products of lower quality and lower standards of
safety; and
   WHEREAS, The dairy industry impacts related agricultural products
and industries, such as corn, silage, and other forages used for feed
as well as rendering facilities; and
   WHEREAS, Concentrated dairy imports for January and February of
2009 surged upward more than 70 percent compared to 2008 despite
record low producer prices; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
strongly encourages the President, the Congress, and the Secretary of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture to acknowledge the importance of
the dairy industry nationwide as well as the unique aspects of the
dairy industry region by region by enacting legislation or
regulations to update the federal dairy product price support program
to reflect today's cost of production, implement fair tariffs on
unregulated imported dairy solids, mandate greater market
transparency, and support a milk supply management program; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.