On Monday Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1522 into law to increase a mill assessment. Unlike the contentious mill fee on pesticides, however, this proposal came from agriculture. SB 1522 deals with a sales tax on fertilizer products to fund CDFA’s registration process.
Throughout the legislative session, lawmakers have stressed the industry was behind the fee adjustment. Western Plant Health and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization supported the bill.
The aim was to adjust the mill and avoid the sluggish pace for enacting regulations through CDFA. According to a policy committee analysis, the traditional regulatory approach takes more than a year to complete and “utilizes significant staff resources and presents a lengthy and time-consuming process for program personnel and CDFA legal staff.” CDFA’s Fertilizing Inspection Advisory Board charges that the prohibitive process “does not let the department react quickly enough to the economic trends of the fertilizer industry.”
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Western Plant Health believes SB 1522 will enhance CDFA’s operations and encourage the use of new fertilizer advancements that will strengthen the department’s Healthy Soils Program.
