Bill Text: CA SCR126 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 49-19-1)

Status: (Passed) 2018-05-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 62, Statutes of 2018. [SCR126 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SCR126-Amended.html

---

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 19, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Concurrent Resolution

No. 126

---

Introduced by Senator Dodd
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry)

April 02, 2018

---

Relative to the 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 126, as amended, Dodd. 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve.

This measure would recognize April 9, 2018, 2018 as the milestone 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve Preserve, and further recognize the critical part the hundreds of growers, vintners, local leaders, and members of the Napa community play to preserve the beauty and splendor of the valley and its agricultural industries, for this and future generations.

Digest Key

Fiscal Committee: NO  

---

Bill Text

WHEREAS, Through trying times, including the Prohibition Era, natural disasters, and the relentless encroachment of urban sprawl, agriculture has maintained its celebrated position as an integral part of life in the Napa valley; and

WHEREAS, For nearly two centuries, Napa valley farmers have worked with the valley’s fertile volcanic soils and unique climate, optimal for growing lush vineyard grapevines and producing world-class wine grapes and other agricultural products; and

WHEREAS, In the 1960s, agricultural regions throughout the state were rapidly disappearing, and being replaced with residential subdivisions and commercial developments, that were seen as more lucrative uses of the land; and

WHEREAS, While many other regions throughout California permanently paved over their agricultural land, Napa valley did something visionary and doubled down on agriculture, resulting in the long-term preservation of Napa County’s agricultural legacy; and

WHEREAS, On April 9, 1968, the Napa County Board of Supervisors voted to create the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, the first of its kind in the United States; and

WHEREAS, This innovative resolution initiated a succession of progressive land-use policies to protect Napa valley farmland from encroaching urbanization, and prioritized agriculture as the best use of the land, thereby protecting 31,609 acres of agricultural preserve farmland from urban development until 2058; and

WHEREAS, Well into a second generation effort to preserve the valley, Napa County property owners are voluntarily placing their land into conservation easements, dictating how those parcels will be used in perpetuity, thereby ensuring that approximately 55,000 acres of Napa County will be forever guaranteed to remain rural through the program; and

WHEREAS, In addition to protecting Napa County’s agricultural land, the Napa County Agricultural Preserve ensures the preservation and sustainability of the wine country’s agricultural heritage, including the charitable leadership of the industry, innovative agricultural housing and worker protection programs, standard-setting sustainability efforts, and, of course, the production of world-class wines; and

WHEREAS, Napa valley continues to maintain its commitment to agriculture, and the maintaining of its agricultural preserve, stating clearly in its general plan: “Napa County in 2030 will remain a world-famous grape growing and winemaking region, with a viable and sustainable agricultural industry”; now, therefore, be it

WHEREAS, The County of Napa’s farmers and rich soils have produced a bountiful array of crops, livestock, and agricultural products for centuries; and

WHEREAS, The County of Napa’s exceptional climate and topography produce world-class winegrapes, wines, and other outstanding agricultural products; and

WHEREAS, Despite pressures for development over the years, agriculture has remained at the heart of the region’s economic and cultural life; and

WHEREAS, As farmland across California was rapidly disappearing, as supplanted by commercial developments, the County of Napa recognized the importance of preventing urban sprawl by protecting its irreplaceable agricultural lands; and

WHEREAS, On April 9, 1968, the Napa County Board of Supervisors voted to create the Napa County Agricultural Preserve (hereafter the preserve); and

WHEREAS, The creation of the preserve was groundbreaking and marked the first such preserve in the nation, and led to related land-use policies to protect the County of Napa’s farmland, prioritizing agriculture as the highest and best use of prime agricultural land; and

WHEREAS, The preserve protects 31,609 acres of farmlands, and tens of thousands of additional acres of land are shielded from future development through conservation easements voluntarily entered into by property owners or protected through agricultural, watershed, and open-space zoning, which, combined with the preserve, encompasses over 90 percent of the county’s total acreage; and

WHEREAS, In addition to protecting the County of Napa’s agricultural land, the preserve enables and fosters cutting-edge sustainability efforts, the charitable leadership of the agricultural industry, and innovative farmworker housing programs; and

WHEREAS, These efforts have been supported and made possible in large part because of the leadership of the County of Napa, Napa County Farm Bureau, Napa County Resource Conservation District, Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners, and Winegrowers of Napa County; and

WHEREAS, The County of Napa continues to maintain its commitment to agriculture and the maintaining of its preserve, stating clearly in its general plan: “Napa County in 2030 will remain a world-famous grape growing and winemaking region, with a viable and sustainable agricultural industry”; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes April 9, 2018, 2018 as the milestone 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve, and further recognizes the critical part the hundreds of growers, vintners, local leaders, and members of the Napa community play to preserve the beauty and splendor of the valley and its agricultural industries, for this and future generations; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.