AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 6, 2023
california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 652
Introduced by Assembly Member Lee
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bennett, Kalra, and Pellerin) February 9, 2023
An act to add Section 11519 to the F ood and Agricultural Code, relating to the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 652, as amended, Lee. Department of Pesticide Re gulation:
Regulation Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.
Existing law, added by the Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1991, creates the Department of Pesticide Re gulation and authorizes the Director of Pesticide Re gulation, among other things, to adopt regulations for the issuance and renewal of licenses and certificates for pest control operations. Existing la w requires the director, on or after January 1, 2025, to adopt re gulations for the issuance and rene wal of licenses and certificates for pest control operations for a 3-year period.
This bill would require the department, by July January 1, 2025, to establish and convene an environmental justice advisory committee, a Department of P esticide Regulation Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, as provided, that would formally review the activities and programs under the jurisdiction of the department and that would provide recommendations and identify best practices for improving community protections, compliance with regulations, and enforcement of timelines. to the department on ways to inte grate en vironmental justice considerations into department pr ograms, policies, decisionmaking , and activities, and on how the department can impr ove its
98 communication with communities with the most significant e xposure to pesticides. The bill would require the advisory committee to hold, at a minimum, quarterly meetings and to periodically post on the department’s internet website its recommendations. The bill would also require the department to periodically post on its internet website an update on its ef forts to incorpor ate the advisory committee’ s recommendations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 11519 is added to the Food and line 2 Agricultural Code, to read:
line 3 11519. (a) The department, in consultation with the California line 4 Air Resources Board Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, line 5 department shall convene a Department of Pesticide Re gulation line 6 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee by July January 1, line 7 2025.
line 8 (b) (1) The advisory committee shall be composed of at least line 9 up to 15 members, and shall include environmental justice leaders, line 10 advocates of socially disadv antaged f armers or ranchers, line 11 representatives of Native American or tribal groups, f armworker line 12 advocates, and representatives from communities in the state with line 13 the most significant e xposure to pesticides, including, b ut not line 14 limited to, community members li ving in both urban and rural line 15 regions with high pesticide use. the following:
line 16 (A) At least three environmental justice leaders who represent line 17 rural and urban communities with the most significant e xposure line 18 to pesticides.
line 19 (B) At least three representatives of Native American, tribal, or line 20 indigenous groups.
line 21 (C) At least two farmworker advocates.
line 22 (D) Up to two people with expertise in issues affecting socially line 23 disadvantaged farmers or ranchers.
line 24 (E) Up to two agroecologists or biologists with an environmental line 25 justice background.
line 26 (2) The advisory committee member s shall r epresent line 27 communities in the central coast, central valley, and southern and line 28 northern California.
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line 1 (c) The department shall appoint the advisory committee line 2 members from nominations recei ved from environmental justice line 3 organizations and community groups. groups through an open, line 4 public pr ocess. After the initial establishment of the advisory line 5 committee, future committee members shall be selected through a line 6 majority vote of existing committee members at a noticed public line 7 meeting of the advisory committee.
line 8 (d) The advisory committee shall formally review the activities line 9 and programs under the jurisdiction of the department, and shall line 10 provide recommendations and identify best practices for improving line 11 community protections, compliance with re gulations, and line 12 enforcement of timelines and budget. to the department on ways line 13 to integrate environmental justice considerations into department line 14 programs, policies, decisionmaking , and activities, and on how line 15 the department can improve its communication with communities line 16 with the most significant exposure to pesticides. line 17 (e) (1) The members of the advisory committee may receive a line 18 reasonable per diem allo wance for each day’ s attendance at a line 19 noticed meeting of the advisory committee.
line 20 (2) The members of the advisory committee may be reimbursed line 21 for actual and necessary tra vel expenses incurred in connection line 22 with their official duties.
line 23 (f) The advisory committee member s and the department’ s line 24 Assistant Dir ector for En vironmental J ustice and Equity shall line 25 cofacilitate advisory committee meetings. The advisory committee line 26 shall hold, at a minimum, quarterly public meetings, of which three line 27 per year shall be held in communities with high pesticide use . line 28 Members of the advisory committee shall be provided with a remote line 29 call-in option. Langua ge access shall be available to advisory line 30 committee members and the public.
line 31 (g) The advisory committee shall periodically post, on the line 32 department’s internet website , its r ecommendations for the line 33 department.
line 34 (h) The department shall periodically post, on its internet line 35 website, an update on its ef forts to incorpor ate the line 36 recommendations of the advisory committee.
line 37 (i) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
line 38 (1) “Advisory committee” means the Department of P esticide line 39 Regulation Environmental Justice Advisory Committee established line 40 pursuant to this section.
98 AB 652 — 3 —
line 1 (2) “Department” means the Department of P esticide line 2 Regulation.
line 3 (3) “Socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” has the same line 4 meaning as defined in Section 512.
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98 — 4 — AB 652