Suspense File Results: Key Farm Bureau Bills Advance or Stall
The fate of several major California Farm Bureau priority bills became clearer this week as the Assembly and Senate Appropriations committees completed their annual suspense file hearings, one of the final major hurdles before bills head to the floor.
Among the most notable outcomes, Senate Bill 1305, which Farm Bureau opposed and which addressed grizzly bears in California, was held in committee and will not advance this year. Senate Bill 601, an opposed measure that would have expanded the California State Water Resources Control Board's authority to adopt water quality control plans for all "waters of the state," was also stopped.
Other priority measures remain alive. Assembly Bill 2494, which would make significant changes to the management of California's demonstration state forests, advanced to the Senate floor with amendments. Farm Bureau remains opposed unless amended because the latest changes do not address Farm Bureau’s outstanding concerns.
In total, California Farm Bureau was actively engaged on 30 bills considered during the suspense hearings, including measures it supports, opposes, opposes unless amended or on which it has submitted a letter of concern. Some will now move to final floor votes, while nine were held in committee and are finished for the legislative session. Fourteen bills advanced with amendments. Farm Bureau staff are reviewing the new language as it becomes available to determine whether the changes address existing concerns or affect Farm Bureau positions.
Below is a breakdown and where they stand heading into the final weeks of the legislative session.
I. Bills Moving to the Assembly Floor
There are six Senate-authored bills that passed the Assembly Appropriations suspense hearing on Aug. 13 and will go to an Assembly floor vote.
Support (4)
Senate Bill 1064 (Dahle) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: This bill amends the Clean Truck Check program to reduce the frequency of emissions testing for eligible nongasoline heavy-duty on-road motor vehicles to once every two years.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. Amendments from the Assembly Appropriations Committee limit the scope of the measure of limit testing of low-use vehicles, with engines from the 2012 model year or older that are registered in California.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, modify exemption qualifiers.
Assigned staff: Daniella Legostaev, Peter Ansel
Senate Bill 872 (McNerney) — Farm Bill position: Support
Synopsis: Senate Bill 872 creates a new delta levees and canal subsidence fund in the state treasury to address two linked crises facing California's water backbone: aging delta levees and land subsidence damaging the State Water Project’s conveyance canals. The bill directs the secretary of natural resources to allocate up to $150 million annually, subject to available funding, to the California Department of Water Resources for capital improvements restoring conveyance capacity lost to subsidence and another $150 million annually to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy for levee improvement projects, continuing through the 2046-47 fiscal year, with proportional reductions if fund monies fall short.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. Require that fund allocations be made consistent with the Delta Levees Investment Strategy, tying the bill’s spending priorities to that existing state planning framework rather than leaving allocation criteria freestanding.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended for consistency with levee strategy.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Senate Bill 881 (McNerney) — Farm Bill position: Support
Synopsis: Income taxation: credits: voluntary contributions: food bank donations.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, A Roll.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel
Senate Bill 1062 (Ochoa Bogh) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: fees. This bill clarifies that when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife adjusts the fees under the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, CDFW shall consider making the fees proportionate to the impact of a project and consider the use of tiered fees by project type, size or other criteria.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, B Roll.
Assigned staff: Richard Filgas
Neutral (1)
Senate Bill 1135 (Blakespear) Farm Bureau position: Neutral
Synopsis: California Wildlife Coexistence Act. Senate Bill 1135 would establish a statewide wildlife coexistence framework through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, including a Wildlife Coexistence Program, codifies and makes permanent a Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program and a Wildlife Coexistence Technical Advisory Committee. The bill is intended to reduce and mitigate conflicts between people, livestock, property and wildlife through reporting tools, technical assistance, nonlethal conflict-reduction measures and compensation resources for eligible livestock losses or indirect impacts associated with wolves.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. Adds pursuit by dogs and ATVs an option. Adds public safety to the list of possible participants on the advisory committee.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, ordered to second reading.
Assigned staff: Steven Fenaroli
Oppose (2)
Senate Bill 947 (McNerney) Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Employment: automated decision systems.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, B Roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Senate Bill 951 (Reyes) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Employment: technological displacement: notice.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. Amendments clarify that its definition of “employer” also covers contractors, including farm labor contractors commonly employed in agriculture. Other amendments also match Senate Bill 951’s coverage to that of California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, (employers of 75 or more employees). Farm Bureau continues to oppose SB 951.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, specify the tech.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
II. Bills Moving to the Senate Floor
Assembly-authored bills that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense hearing and will go to a Senate floor vote. (16 bills)
Support (8)
Assembly Bill 706 (Aguiar-Curry) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: The bill would create the Forest Organic Residue, Energy and Safety Transformation program, or FOREST, and a related fund to support biomass power generation using forest waste from high wildfire-risk areas, while shifting timber fund priorities to help finance the effort. It would authorize appropriations from the timber fund or Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for incentives to qualifying facilities that use mostly feedstock from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones, meet location or emissions requirements, and are certified as eligible renewable resources, and it would direct the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt implementing regulations.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The amended bill would repeal the authorization to loan monies in the timber fund for addressing marijuana cultivation damage, as described above, and in the same funding priority would authorize the timber fund to be expended to support the FOREST fund and FOREST program, as specified. The bill would also specify certain procedures regarding the funding priorities of the timber fund so that each purpose identified in a higher priority is funded before a lower priority. Amendments will not change the Farm Bureau position.
Committee note (as recorded): A roll
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel, Richard Filgas
Assembly Bill 1890 (Aguiar-Curry) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Napa County: farmworker housing: funding.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced)
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, A roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Assembly Bill 1808 (Carrillo) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: industrial projects and commercial projects: single-family residences: public works projects. This bill would authorize the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to delegate to a city permitting authority under the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act for commercial and industrial projects to take up to 40 Western Joshua trees. The bill would additionally authorize CDFW to authorize without fees or other mitigation the removal or trimming of up to 10 Western Joshua trees by the owner of a single-family residence or up to 40 Western Joshua trees for a public works project where certain criteria are met and waive the California Environmental Quality Act for these single-family home projects until CDFW certifies a programmatic environmental impact report.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The amendments adopted in the Senate Appropriations Committee expanded the types of projects for which a city or county operating under an agreement with CDFW would be able to authorize takes of Western Joshua trees. The amendments also require CDFW to adopt regulations adjusting the fees for the taking of Western Joshua trees paid in lieu of mitigation and add an urgency clause.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, expand project types, add urgency, A roll.
Assigned staff: Richard Filgas
Assembly Bill 1711 (Connolly) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: The bill would redirect appropriated fair and exposition fund monies to the secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture for California fair capital projects related to public health, fire and life safety, emergency services improvements, regulatory compliance and maintenance, thereby expanding authorized uses and creating an appropriation. It would also require funds deposited after Nov. 1 to be allocated within 90 days, mandate annual allocation of available funds to California fairs by Dec. 31 under an approved expenditure plan and allow a prudent reserve for contingencies beginning in 2027.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The amended bill allows for a reasonable amount of capital to be retained for contingencies, whereas the prior version capped contingency reserves at 5% of all received funds. Amendments will not change Farm Bureau’s position.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, CDFA authority for fund, A roll.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel
Assembly Bill 2700 (Patterson) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Public Utilities Commission: electrical corporations: wildfire victim restitution shortfalls: report: restitution mechanisms.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, study bill, A roll.
Assigned staff: Abby Carlson
Assembly Bill 2032 (Ransom) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Assembly Bill 2032 addresses the golden mussel invasion by streamlining the permitting burden on water agencies fighting the infestation. It exempts operators of water supply systems that have submitted an invasive mussel control plan from needing separate California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits to possess invasive mussels during ordinary operations and maintenance work, and it creates a parallel permit exemption for agencies conducting golden mussel research even without an approved control plan. The bill also directs CDFW to develop guidance for water managers on mussel control and for scientific researchers, and requires the department to produce and maintain public maps of golden mussel reports and confirmed detections. It carries an urgency clause—added in the April 16 amendments—so it would take effect immediately upon signature, reflecting the “ongoing crisis.”
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The bill was amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee to broaden the bill's scope from “golden mussels” specifically to “invasive mussels” generally and expand the water-supply-system-operator permit exemption to explicitly cover research activities, not just maintenance and operations. The committee also added an entirely new exemption for possession of dead invasive mussels by an agency with a submitted control plan, covering research, outreach, education, species verification, training or other purposes that CDFW deems in the state's interest and correspondingly update the guidance-development mandate to address prevention, as well as control of invasive mussels.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, broaden scope, A roll.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering, Richard Filgas
Assembly Bill 2739 (Soria) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Water: affordability and system stabilization.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee Note (as recorded): Do Pass, A roll.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Assembly Bill 1663 (Wallis) — Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: removal: trimming. This bill would authorize the agent of a property owner to seek a permit under the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act and removes the permit application requirement that a signed attestation or certification of dead Western Joshua trees be submitted.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The amendments adopted in the Senate Appropriations Committee deleted the provisions authorizing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue permits without payment of fees or other mitigation, for the removal or trimming of Western Joshua trees on parcels containing owner-occupied single-family residences and to instead allow a property owner’s agent to submit the permit request and satisfy related requirements.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, remove new permitting path, A roll.
Assigned staff: Richard Filgas
Oppose (5)
Assembly Bill 1883 (Bryan) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Workplace surveillance tools.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, strike private right of action, B roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Assembly Bill 2227 (Connolly) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Farm labor contractors: surety bonds.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, base bond on payroll and add penalty, B roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Assembly Bill 2218 (Kalra) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Water policy: California Native American tribes. Assembly Bill 2218 establishes a state policy recognizing and addressing inequities in tribal access to and control over water stemming from state-sanctioned acts of violence against California Native American tribes to be advanced through financial assistance, protection of tribal water uses, consultation on water-related projects and policies, and incorporation of indigenous knowledge into ecosystem restoration and protection efforts. Under the bill, relevant state agencies, including all those under the California Natural Resources Agency, the Delta Stewardship Council and the California State Water Resources Control Board, would be required to implement this policy when revising, adopting or establishing water rights, policies, regulations, permits or grant criteria intended to address the identified inequities. The July 2 amendments added a dispute-resolution mechanism, requiring any disagreement over the policy's implementation to be referred to the Governor's Office of Tribal Affairs for mediation, with the state agency's action under dispute stayed until mediation concludes.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, B roll.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Assembly Bill 2646 (Krell) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Employment: minimum wages: agricultural workers.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, B roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Assembly Bill 2321 (Ortega) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Bureau of Investigations.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, notification requirement, B roll.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Oppose Unless Amended
Assembly Bill 1881 (Ramos) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose unless amended
Synopsis: California Indian Freedom Act of 2026. Assembly Bill 1881 would prohibit governmental agencies from substantially burdening a California Indian or California Native American tribe's exercise of religious beliefs or spiritual practices on state lands unless the agency can show the restriction furthers a compelling government interest through the least restrictive means available. The bill requires agencies to allow California Indians access to sacred sites on state lands except where public safety or resource protection makes access impossible, authorizes tribes to raise a violation as a claim or defense in judicial or administrative proceedings and shields information about sacred sites, cultural landscapes or religious practices from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. The bill would also revise the list of exempted records under the California Public Records Act to add that confidentiality protection, and it clarifies that nothing in the act limits the state's ability to enter into separate agreements with tribes governing land access.
Outcome: Do Pass (as introduced).
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, B roll.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Assembly Bill 2494 (Rogers) — Farm Bureau position: Oppose unless amended
Synopsis: The bill would redefine and broaden the management of state forests into a demonstration state forest system focused on public benefits, research, ecological restoration, tribal co-management and authorized timber harvesting while revising related rules, planning duties and funding provisions. It would replace prior timber-production language, update regulations and reporting requirements, allow collaborative agreements with California Native American tribes, require a forest management plan for the Soquel Demonstration State Forest and direct additional forest revenue into the Forest Resources Improvement Fund, with no state reimbursement required for local costs.
Outcome: Do Pass, amended. The amended bill pulls in four new code sections (§§ 4647, 4660, 4661, 4663) that extend the bill's demonstration-forest framework to the separately chartered Soquel Demonstration State Forest in Santa Cruz County, shifting authority to adopt Soquel's forest management plan from CalFire to the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, requiring Soquel timber income to also fund recreation—not just research and operations—and replacing an outdated reliance on a 1943 legislative committee report with ongoing board consultation. Beyond that, it strengthens the tribal co-management language from discretionary "may enter into" agreements to requiring "good faith efforts to collaboratively develop" them, broadens the allowed purposes for grazing/mining/recreation-concession regulations to include restoration work and expands the monitoring metrics reported to the board. Amendments will not change Farm Bureau’s position as they do not meet Farm Bureau’s requested changes.
Committee note (as recorded): Do Pass, amended, clarifying, B roll.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel, Richard Filgas
III. Bills Held on Suspense — Dead for the Session
Bills below did not advance out of Appropriations and will not move forward this session. (9 bills)
Senate Bills Held in Assembly Appropriations
(Five bills)
Support (2)
Senate Bill 899 (Grove) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Fire prevention: Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force: wildfire smoke.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel
Senate Bill 1061 (Ochoa Bogh) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: relocation.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Richard Filgas
Oppose (3)
Senate Bill 601 (Allen) Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: This bill would remove the current limit on the California State Water Resources Control Board's authority to adopt water quality control plans only for federally regulated waters and instead would let the board adopt plans for all “waters of the state.”
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Senate Bill 1305 (Richardson) Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Wildlife: bears.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Richard Filgas
Senate Bill 1284 (Smallwood-Cuevas) Farm Bureau position: Oppose
Synopsis: Medi-Cal benefits: employer reports.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Bryan Little
Assembly Bills Held in Senate Appropriations
(Four bills)
Support (3)
Assembly Bill 1812 (Aguiar-Curry) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Solid waste: compostable products.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Chris Reardon, Daniella Legostaev, Peter Ansel
Assembly Bill 2260 (Connolly) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Water: restoration management: small restoration use. Assembly Bill 2260 creates a new streamlined water right a “small restoration use” registration under the Water Rights Permitting Reform Act of 1988, extending the existing small domestic/small irrigation/livestock stock pond registration framework to water diverted for native fish and wildlife preservation and habitat restoration projects, capped at 20 acre-feet annually and renewable every five years. It was supported by the winegrape industry.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Alex Biering
Assembly Bill 2410 (Ellis) Farm Bureau position: Support
Synopsis: Wildfire safety: fuels reduction projects: California Environmental Quality Act.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel
Letter of Concern (1)
Assembly Bill 53 (Ramos) Farm Bureau position: Letter of concern
Synopsis: Native American tribes: fish and wildlife: conservation and mitigation lands.
Outcome: Held on suspense — dead for the session.
Committee note (as recorded): Held.
Assigned staff: Peter Ansel, Richard Filgas
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Learn more about SB 54 and agriculture - https://www.cfbf.com/ag-advocacy/all-issues/sb-54-plastic-pollution-prevention-and-packaging-producer-responsibility-act
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