The Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995: Managed Honeybee Health Program.

Assembly Member Ransom, with Coauthor Hadwick, advances a measure to create a Managed Honeybee Health Program within California’s agricultural framework, tying pollinator health directly to the health of pollination-dependent crops and the broader state economy. The proposal would add a new provision to the Food and Agricultural Code to define the program, establish its governance, and authorize the department to oversee health interventions for managed honeybees in California.

In this framework, the department would establish the Managed Honeybee Health Program in consultation with an advisory panel, and the panel may include commercial beekeepers, the State Veterinarian, farmers, county agricultural commissioners, professionals, scientists, and NGO representatives. The program would authorize grants for health interventions that directly improve honeybee health and for projects that support health interventions through research, extension, and technical assistance. Eligible recipients include in-state commercial beekeepers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations, with priorities and criteria that may consider disadvantaged communities, socially disadvantaged groups, replication potential, and environmental or agronomic co-benefits.

The bill creates a dedicated funding mechanism by establishing the Managed Honeybee Health Special Fund Subaccount within the Climate Smart Agriculture Account, to receive nonstate, federal, and private funds and to be continuously appropriated for program purposes. Notwithstanding existing Government Code provisions, moneys in the subaccount would be available for the program without regard to fiscal years, while operation of the section remains contingent on a Legislature appropriation in the Budget Act or another statute. Funds collected under certain existing provisions would not be expended for the program, and grantmaking would occur to the extent that funds are available, with no explicit requirement for matching funds or specific reporting mandates specified in the bill.

Contextually, the measure references the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 as the statutory framework within which the program would operate, and it contemplates coordination with related climate and environmental programs, including health-focused and water-efficiency initiatives. The program’s success would hinge on a legislative appropriation and the availability of nonstate funds, with governance anchored in department oversight and advisory input, and with grant activity governed by defined priorities and eligibility criteria. The overall aim is to formalize a structured, grant-supported approach to improving managed honeybee health as a component of California’s broader agricultural and environmental policy landscape.