John Harabedian’s AB 1594 would widen California citrus oversight

In California, Assemblymember John Harabedian’s AB 1594 would end the California Navel Orange Commission and replace it with a California Citrus Commission that covers more than one crop. For growers, that means the state’s oversight would no longer be organized around a single fruit.

The new commission would have prescribed membership, and the bill would spell out the powers, duties and responsibilities of its board of directors. It would also let the commission bring certain civil actions to enforce the measure’s provisions, giving the panel more than an advisory role.

A broader table for citrus

That wider structure sits next to work the state already does through the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee in the Department of Food and Agriculture. Under existing law, that committee develops a statewide citrus-specific pest and disease work plan, which keeps disease control at the center of the industry’s state relationship.

The bill also fits the Legislature’s larger view of agriculture as one of the state’s vital economic pillars. AB 1594 does not just swap names on a commission letterhead. It redraws how California organizes authority over an industry that is still being managed crop by crop, risk by risk.