Pollinator habitat conservation: funding.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Food and Agriculture to expend in accordance with law all money which is made available for its use. Existing law, the Apiary Protection Act, provides for the regulation and management of apiaries, including regulations for bees used in the pollination of agricultural crops. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, allocate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the department in order to provide funding to partner with the University of California Cooperative Extension, California resource conservation districts, and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service to deliver technical assistance and outreach, and provide grants to incentivize participation in state and federal conservation programs where pollinator habitat and forage is established. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to use the allocated moneys to pay for all reasonable administrative and implementation costs of the department relating to the bill.