BILL NUMBER: AB 604CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 17 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE APRIL 28, 2010 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR APRIL 28, 2010 PASSED THE SENATE APRIL 15, 2010 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 5, 2009 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members De Leon and Fuller FEBRUARY 25, 2009 An act relating to pest control, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 604, De Leon. Pest control: citrus disease prevention. Existing law creates in the Department of Food and Agriculture the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee, composed as specified, with specified powers and duties, including, among others, the authority to develop, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, a statewide citrus-specific pest and disease workplan that includes informational programs to educate and train residential owners of citrus fruit, local communities, groups, and individuals on the prevention of pests, and diseases and their vectors, specific to citrus and programs for surveying, detecting, analyzing, and treating citrus pests and diseases. Existing law authorizes the imposition of a monthly assessment on citrus producers, as provided, for specified related purposes, and requires the assessment to be remitted to the department and deposited into the Citrus Disease Management Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, which funds in that account are available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would provide that the department is authorized to spend any funds collected pursuant to, and for the purposes of, the above provisions through June 30, 2010, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Department of Food and Agriculture is authorized to spend any funds collected pursuant to, and for the purposes described in, Article 2 (commencing with Section 5911) of Chapter 9 of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Food and Agricultural Code through June 30, 2010. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order for the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee and the Department of Food and Agriculture to fulfill their statutory obligations to develop and implement a workplan to deal with the introduction of Asian citrus psyllids, a tiny insect that often carries citrus green disease, a pathogen that has destroyed groves in Florida and wiped out much of the citrus industries in China, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Brazil, at the earliest possible time, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.