Existing law governs the apportionment of state funds to fairs within the network of California fairs, which includes, in general, the California Exposition and State Fair, district agricultural association fairs, county fairs, and citrus fruit fairs. For purposes of these provisions, existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to prescribe regulations for judging exhibits and the maximum amount of premiums paid for exhibits. This bill would also require the department, for these purposes, to prescribe regulations for the entry of junior exhibits. The bill would require those regulations to include a requirement that all junior exhibit entries be received only with the approval of a parent or guardian and to authorize those entries to be withdrawn at the request of the parent or guardian, as specified. The bill would also require those regulations to include a provision that, in the case of a junior livestock exhibit, any bidder may elect for live animal pickup, regardless of any characterization as a terminal sale, as specified.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations. Existing law requires the state board to provide guidance on credits generated pursuant to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations adopted pursuant to the act from the methane reduction protocols described in the comprehensive strategy for short-lived climate pollutants. This bill would prohibit the state board from including avoided methane emissions in the calculation of carbon intensity for purposes of the state board's evaluation or reevaluation of a fuel pathway, as provided. The bill would define "avoided methane emissions" to mean any captured methane from livestock manure management. The Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations authorize a fuel pathway that uses biomethane from dairy cattle or swine manure digestion to be certified with a carbon intensity that reflects the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions achieved by the voluntary capture of methane, subject to meeting specified requirements. The regulations also require the carbon intensities that reflect avoided methane emissions from dairy and swine manure projects to meet certain requirements in order to be eligible for credit generation. This bill would provide that the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations described above are null and void as applied to fuels derived from livestock manure.
Existing law establishes the Franchise Tax Board in the Government Operations Agency to, among other things, administer state personal income taxes and corporation franchise and income taxes. Existing law, the Better for Families Act, required the Franchise Tax Board, no later than September 30, 2023, to make a one-time Better for Families Tax Refund payment to each qualified recipient, as defined, of an applicable amount, as specified, in the form and manner determined by the Franchise Tax Board, in order to provide relief to Californians. This bill would require the Franchise Tax Board, by no later than July 1, 2025, to enter into master agreements with debit card vendors to render services related to statewide financial relief payments. The bill would require each agreement to include certain terms, including definitions for key performance indicators, specified payment provisions, and options for fee-free services.
Existing law prescribes various requirements upon the transfer of real property, including requiring certain disclosures to be made upon the transfer of residential property and the manner and form of those disclosures. This bill would require a property owner selling agricultural land within an area of cultural and traditionally significant land to send, before selling or participating in negotiations to sell that agricultural land to a prospective buyer, a notice of first right of refusal for the agricultural land to a California Native American tribe affiliated with the cultural and traditionally significant land within the area of the agricultural land. The bill would require a California Native American tribe desiring to purchase the agricultural land to notify, in writing, the property owner of its interest in purchasing the agricultural land within 30 days after the notice of first right of refusal is provided. The bill would, after the property owner receives a notice of interest from a California Native American tribe, require the property owner and tribe to enter into good faith negotiations to determine mutually satisfactory terms of the sale except for the price, as specified. The bill would require the price to be the appraised fair market value of the agricultural land, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by all parties to the sale. The bill would authorize the property owner to transfer the agricultural land without regard for these provisions, if the property owner does not receive a notice of interest from a California Native American tribe 30 days after the notice of first right of refusal is provided, or if the terms, besides price, cannot be agreed upon after a good faith negotiation period of not less than 90 days. This bill would provide that if a California Native American tribe purchases agricultural land in accordance with this bill, the tribe shall continue to use the agricultural land for agricultural purposes.
Existing law, until January 1, 2027, establishes the California Small Agricultural Business Drought and Flood Relief Grant Program in the Office of the Small Business Advocate, under the authority of its director, to provide grants to qualified small agricultural businesses that have been affected by severe drought and flooding. Existing law requires the office to allocate grants to qualified small agricultural businesses that meet the requirements of the program, upon appropriation of grant funds by the Legislature. Existing law defines a "qualified small business" as a business that, among other things, has been affected by severe drought according to the United States Department of Agriculture drought monitor or is within or serves a county that has a state or federal disaster declaration for flooding. Existing law defines "decline in annual gross receipts or gross profits" for purposes of the program to mean a decrease in annual gross receipts or gross profits when comparing the 2022 taxable year to the 2019 taxable year. This bill, the California Agriculture Relief Act, would rename the program as the California Small Agricultural Business Disaster Relief Grant Program and would expand the purpose of the program to include the provision of grants to qualified small agricultural businesses that have been affected by severe drought, heat, or flooding. The bill would include within the definition of a "qualified small business" one that has been affected by the September 2022 heat wave, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of "decline in annual gross receipts or gross profits" to mean a decrease in annual gross receipts or gross profits when comparing the 2022 or 2023 taxable year to the 2019 taxable year. The bill would make conforming changes. The bill would require funding appropriated related to severe heat impacts to be administered, to the extent feasible, by allocating 20% of grant funds in one or more rounds of grants for small and socially disadvantaged farmers who are qualified small agricultural businesses and by allocating the remainder to qualified small agricultural businesses most impacted by severe heat, including those that are identified using specified codes.
