2026 Legislative Wrap-Up: Final Action on Farm Bureau Priority Bills
Published Friday, October 2, 2026
The governor has finished acting on the 27 bills Farm Bureau tracked that reached the governor's desk this year: Twenty were signed, and seven were vetoed. Of the 16 bills Farm Bureau supported, 12 became law. Of the nine it opposed, three were vetoed, and six were signed. Bills that did not pass the Legislature are not covered here. These were the outstanding measures awaiting a final disposition.
Supported Bills Signed Into Law (12)
- Assembly Bill 230 (Ransom) — Pierce's Disease Control Program
Extends the Pierce's Disease Control Program indefinitely rather than letting it expire in 2031 but makes the extension inoperative if the secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture finds that a referendum on continuing the Winegrape Pest and Disease Prevention Board did not receive a favorable vote. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 27 (Chapter 498).
- Assembly Bill 706 (Aguiar-Curry) — FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund Act
Creates the Forest Organic Residue, Energy, and Safety Transformation (FOREST) program, which, upon appropriation, would use timber fund or Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund monies to maintain and expand biomass power generation and revitalize idle biomass facilities. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 869).
- Assembly Bill 1663 (Wallis) — Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: removal and trimming
Allows the agent of a property owner to submit a Joshua tree permit request and meet related requirements and removes the requirement that the request includes a signed attestation or certification. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 29 (Chapter 813).
- Assembly Bill 1711 (Connolly) — Fairs: funding
Directs fair-related fund monies to capital outlay for California fairs, covering public health, fire and life safety, emergency services, regulatory-compliance and maintenance projects at fairgrounds. Money deposited after Nov. 1 each year must be allocated within 90 days. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 18 (Chapter 270).
- Assembly Bill 1808 (Carrillo) — Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: industrial and commercial projects
Authorizes the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to delegate to a city the authority to approve the taking of a western Joshua tree for commercial and industrial development projects. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 29 (Chapter 816).
- Assembly Bill 1890 (Aguiar-Curry) — Napa County farmworker housing funding
Directs the department to award up to $500,000 a year in matching funds to the Napa County Housing Authority to keep meeting the housing needs of migrant and other farmworkers, with the program operative once the Legislature appropriates funding. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 905).
- Assembly Bill 2032 (Ransom) — Invasive golden mussels
Exempts public or private water-supply operators that submit a control plan to the department from the restricted-species permit requirement for invasive mussels when doing maintenance, operational and research work. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 29 (Chapter 817).
- Assembly Bill 2156 (Rivas) — Farmworkers Day
Designates March 31 as Farmworkers Day and requires the governor to proclaim it each year. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed March 26 (Chapter 7), well ahead of the other measures in this memo.
- Assembly Bill 2700 (Patterson) — Wildfire victim restitution
Requires the California Public Utilities Commission to report by Jan. 1, 2028, on verified restitution shortfalls for victims of utility-caused wildfires that occurred before July 12, 2019, and to recommend ways utilities can close those shortfalls. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 959).
- Senate Bill 881 (McNerney) — Food bank donation tax credits
Extends the state income tax credits for food bank donations to taxable years beginning before Jan. 1, 2032. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 27 (Chapter 657).
- Senate Bill 1062 (Ochoa Bogh) — Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: fees
Requires the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to consider making Joshua tree fees proportionate to a project's impact, including tiered fees by project type, size or other criteria. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 27 (Chapter 673).
- Senate Bill 1085 (Durazo) — Water supply planning for housing developments
Requires a city or county that receives a qualifying housing application to identify the public water systems involved and, within 15 days, ask each to confirm whether the project's water demand was included in its urban water management plan. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 1004).
Supported Bills Vetoed (4)
- Assembly Bill 1722 (Hadwick) — California Endangered Species Act: self-defense
Would have prohibited civil, administrative or criminal penalties for a take of a listed species when a person used necessary and reasonable force to protect him- or herself, family members or others from immediate bodily harm, with notice to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 18.
- Assembly Bill 2739 (Soria) — Water affordability and system stabilization
Would have created a water affordability and system stabilization trust, with the treasurer as trustee, to provide perpetual annual funding to the state's water rate and community water affordability assistance funds beginning 25 years after the Legislature transfers general fund money into it. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 30.
- Senate Bill 872 (McNerney) — Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund
Would have required the California Department of Water Resources to reimburse 100% of excess costs when a local agency shows economic hardship and the project addresses a threat to life, property, water supply or habitat. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 27.
- Senate Bill 1064 (Dahle) — Heavy-duty vehicle inspection and maintenance: testing
Would have limited specified testing of low-use, nongasoline heavy-duty vehicles more than 14,000 pounds with 2012 or older engines to no more than once a year. Farm Bureau supported the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 20.
Opposed Bills Signed Into Law (6)
- Assembly Bill 1156 (Wicks) — Williamson Act: cancellation fees and solar facilities
Removes the ability of a city or county to waive or defer Williamson Act cancellation fees and instead lets the secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to do so on a landowner's application, including when the cancellation facilitates a qualifying photovoltaic solar facility. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 875).
- Assembly Bill 1883 (Bryan) — Workplace surveillance tools
Prohibits employers, including governmental entities, from using artificial intelligence-based workplace surveillance tools to collect neural data or recognize an employee's emotional state, with enforcement by the state labor commissioner or a public prosecutor and civil penalties of up to $500 per violation. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 853).
- Assembly Bill 2227 (Connolly) — Farm labor contractors: surety bonds
Sets civil penalties for violations of employment laws applicable to farm labor contractors: for an initial citation, $100 per farmworker employed, plus $100 per day of violation, capped at $10,000. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 18 (Chapter 294).
- Assembly Bill 2646 (Krell) — Minimum wage for agricultural workers
Sets the minimum hourly wage for approved agricultural employees and corresponding employees at $19.75, adjusted each January starting in 2027 by the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 956).
- Senate Bill 947 (McNerney) — Employment: automated decision systems
Protects employees from discharge, demotion or other retaliation for asserting their rights under the bill, with enforcement by the state labor commissioner or a public prosecutor and penalties that include $500 per violation. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 859).
- Senate Bill 951 (Reyes) — Employment: technological displacement notice
Requires employers giving California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or Cal/WARN, notice of a layoff or closure caused largely by artificial intelligence or other automation to describe the job functions being automated and directs the state to publish summaries of those notices and report to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2028. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was signed Sept. 30 (Chapter 860).
Opposed Bills Vetoed (3)
- Assembly Bill 1881 (Ramos) — California Indian Freedom Act of 2026
Would have barred a governmental agency, beginning Jan. 1, 2028, from substantially burdening a California Native American tribe's religious or spiritual practices on state lands, including access to sacred sites, unless the agency met a compelling-interest and least-restrictive-means test. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 30.
- Assembly Bill 2218 (Kalra) — Water policy: California Native American tribes
Would have required state government to support California Native Americans in maintaining cultural and linguistic traditions and ecosystem stewardship, and to engage in good-faith government-to-government consultation with tribes on policies affecting tribal communities. Farm Bureau opposed the bill. It was vetoed Sept. 30.
- Assembly Bill 2494 (Rogers) — State forests: forest management
Would have redefined "management" of the demonstration state forest system to include public benefits such as watershed health and wildfire resilience. Farm Bureau's position was oppose unless amended. The bill was vetoed Sept. 18.
Neutral Bills Signed Into Law (2)
- Assembly Bill 1603 (Schultz) — PFAS in pesticides: Department of Pesticide Regulation
Requires the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, by Jan. 1, 2028, or when it posts 2026 pesticide use data, whichever is first, to flag pesticides containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, ingredients in its pesticide use reporting database and to include PFAS use trends in its annual report. Farm Bureau took a neutral position. The bill was signed Sept. 27 (Chapter 531).
- Senate Bill 1135 (Blakespear) — California Wildlife Coexistence Act
Directs the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, upon appropriation, to create a Wildlife Coexistence Program with a statewide wildlife incident reporting tool and rename the Wolf-Livestock Compensation Pilot Program as the California Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. Farm Bureau took a neutral position. The bill was signed Sept. 29 (Chapter 820).
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