| TO: | Honorable Rick Hardcastle, Chair, House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2997 by Miles (Relating to the creation and funding of the urban farming pilot program and the creation of the Select Committee on Urban Farming.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would create the Urban Farming Pilot Program within the Department of Agriculture (TDA) to provide grants to urban farmers to establish new urban farms and expand existing urban farms. The bill would require TDA to periodically monitor and evaluate each grant recipient under the program. The bill would prohibit the use of state money for the purpose of the program.
The bill would create the Select Committee on Urban Farming. The bill would require the committee to conduct an interim study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding the performance and operation of the program; the continuation, elimination, or expansion of the program; urban farming trends; the capacity for urban farming in the state; and the potential effects of urban farming on the state and on enterprise zones.
The Urban Farming Pilot Program and the Select Committee on Urban Farming would be abolished on September 1, 2013.
This analysis anticipates any additional work resulting from the passage of the bill could be reasonably absorbed within current resources.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2011.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | JOB, SZ, AH
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