Existing law provides for the establishment of district agricultural associations and authorizes a district agricultural association to engage in various activities, including to purchase, acquire, hold, sell, exchange, or convey any interest in real property with the approval of the Department of General Services.

This bill would specify that the above-described authorization includes the construction and maintenance of affordable housing, as defined, and the construction and maintenance of housing affordable for persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined.

Existing law authorizes a district agricultural association, with the approval of the Department of General Services, to lease for the use of its real property, or any portion of that property, to any person or public body for whatever purpose approved by the board of directors of the association, including the construction and maintenance of housing affordable to persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined, and limits a lease to not more than 55 years.

This bill would specify that the above-described authorization includes the construction and maintenance of affordable housing, as defined, and would increase the maximum duration of a lease to not more than 99 years.

Existing law prohibits the Department of Housing and Community Development from making grants or loans pursuant to the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program on or after January 1, 2020, for the purpose of funding predevelopment of developing or operating any housing that is rented, sold, or subleased to certain entities who employ at least one H-2A worker until the expiration of a regulatory agreement or affordability covenant, as applicable. Existing law requires a person or entity who receives a grant or loan under that grant program on or after January 1, 2020, and expends any of those funds for housing that is rented, sold, or subleased to those certain entities until the expiration of the regulatory agreement or affordability covenant, as applicable, to reimburse the department, as specified. Existing law also prohibits state funding from being provided to an employer or its agent who employs at least one H-2A worker for the purposes of funding predevelopment of, developing, or operating any housing, and requires an employer or other recipient of state funding who uses state funding for those purposes to reimburse the state or state agency, as provided.

This bill would expressly specify that those prohibitions and requirements apply to the authorized district agricultural association transactions and construction and maintenance actions described above and to funds, state subsidies allocated, and real property purchased, acquired, held, sold, exchanged, or conveyed by a district agricultural associations, as specified.

Existing law provides that any violation of the Food and Agricultural Code is a misdemeanor, except as otherwise specified.