Key legislation that the Association is sponsoring or co-sponsoring is continuing to move through the legislative process.  All three bills are now in the second house.  AB 732 (Macedo) would give more authority to the County Ag Commissioners to take action on abandoned or neglected properties passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on a 5-0 vote last week.  Association President/CEO Roger A. Isom testified at the hearing stating that action is needed to help control unwanted pests and rodents from abandoned or unattended orchards and fields.  AB 1046 (Bains) would exempt tree nut processing operations from having to comply with reporting requirements for sending waste to a landfill, since they don’t send anything to a landfill.  The bill passed out of Senate Environmental unanimously on consent this past week.  Finally, SB 279 (McNerney) is a bill that would increase the permitting exemption for agricultural composting operations from 1,000 cubic yards to 5,000 cubic yards.  It passed out of Assembly Natural Resources unanimously this week.