Amended  IN  Senate  August 26, 2021
Amended  IN  Senate  June 29, 2021
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 24, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 391

Introduced by Assembly Member Villapudua
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Cunningham, Mathis, and Robert Rivas)
(Coauthor: Senator Hueso)

February 02, 2021

An act to add Section 413 to the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to habitat conservation.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 391, as amended, Villapudua. Pollinator habitat conservation: funding.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Food and Agriculture to expend in accordance with law all money which is made available for its use. Existing law, the Apiary Protection Act, provides for the regulation and management of apiaries, including regulations for bees used in the pollination of agricultural crops.
This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, allocate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the department in order to provide funding to partner with the University of California Cooperative Extension, California resource conservation districts, and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service to deliver technical assistance, assistance and outreach, and provide grants to incentivize participation in state and federal conservation programs where pollinator habitat and forage is established. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to use the allocated moneys to pay for all reasonable administrative and implementation costs of the department relating to the bill.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(a) Working lands offer an opportunity to expand habitat and forage for pollinators which will help sequester carbon and contribute to climate risk reduction.
(b) In order to engage growers in delivering solutions that benefit pollinators, funding is needed for activities that accelerate the adoption of conservation practices that integrate pollinator habitat and forage on working lands.

SEC. 2.

 Section 413 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, immediately following Section 412, to read:

413.
 (a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) is hereby allocated from the General Fund to the department in order to provide funding to partner with the University of California Cooperative Extension, California resource conservation districts, and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service to deliver technical assistance and outreach and provide grants to incentivize participation in state and federal conservation programs where pollinator habitat and forage is established.
(b) The department may use moneys allocated pursuant to subdivision (a) to pay for all reasonable administrative and implementation costs incurred by the department relating to this section.